e e e e e e e e e e
e e e e e e Bennett here leosa here mey Sasso skara here wki here Matthews here
please rise and join us in the Pledge of Allegiance Pledge of 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 [Music]
all adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by the annual schedule of regular meetings here for adopted and posted on the public bulletin board at the municipal building emailed to The Herald News the record The Gazette and all persons who requested the mailing as such since November 19th 2024 approval of the minutes give
approval of the regular minutes for January 22nd 2025 so motion motion by leosa second by skier any discussion roll call wki yes skiar yes leosa yes Bennett
yes Matthews yes motion carries public comment and open the meeting to the public anyone desires to be heard on agenda items please raise your hand to be recognized come forward to the microphone state your name nope okay seeing no one I entertain a motion to close public portion of the
meeting moved second motion by skara second by wki all in favor I motion carries public hearing we have a 2025 open space Grant application now open a meeting to the public on this application for theate County open space grants used to replace the deteriorated
bleachers at wag one bfield located at Ryerson way and wagger Road Block 14 Lot one the new bleachers will be ADA Compliant and if you desire to be heard please raise your hand to be Rec recognized seeing no one a close a motion to close
public second Ben motion by Bennett second by SK any discussion hopefully we get it adoption of ordinances we have none this evening we have roll call roll call oh roll call Bennett yes leosa yes skara
yesi yes Matthews yes motion carries adoption of ordinances we have none old business Joe no no old I did have old but the mayor just talked to me about it so I'm good Raina no I'm good Bruce no sir any
new business no Rina uh no Mike nope Joe yes one item how long are we allowing Hedges to leave up units for rent signs they're very large they're pasted on the sides the
building I believe I was told that they're fully rented that's right that was my understanding Joe I'll find out tomorrow and I'll talk to the zoning officer okay just I because I was going through the uh signage for the gas station and I would think it would be in
in the same line you know they fully rented so why leave up the signs that say hedges for rent right okay no problem yeah I mean they have to comply with the sign ons we always give somebody a little leeway when they're first opening so that's fine they they may be beyond their little leeway point
I was going to say that's more than a little leeway oh but if it rented quick then okay all right I have no new business so we'll turn to the administrative agenda presented by mayor Lane thank you Mr President let me I have a uh an
appointment with advice and consent of the council for for Mike Alberta to be a library trustee can I have a motion to approve so move by Bennett second by leosa BR wki yes skara yes leosa yes Bennett
yes Matthews yes motion carries Mike would you want to come up please now I know who Mike is hello Mike thanks thanks for voling Joe I still have mine with the metal
band on it ra your right hand your name this is on M talk into your chest hi hi state your name Mike ala 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 and that I will bear true faith and Allegiance I will bear TR 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 will perform the duties of and will perform the duties of member of the library Board of Trustees member of the library Board of Trustees of the burrow of hathorne of the bur of Hawthorne Faithfully
faithfully impartially impartially and justly and justly to the best of my ability to the best of my ability so help me God so help me God congratulations thank congratulations conratulations thank you Micha thank you for volunteering conratulations I'll have to tell your
former catcher Pat while I am sure many of you know by now I wanted to offer my thoughts on the passing of Victor taglia father of councilwoman and Marie sassa Victor was part of the fabric of our community he
wrote many W wore many hats longtime School Board member Zoning Board member Republican Club president and County committee person Victor was an active member in his church St Anthony's and its holy name society and Knights of
Columbus Victor loved his town and contributed to many many causes including the liance club the Chamber of Commerce and the foundation of established in memory of his late son-in-law Mark Sasso Victor was also a very proud first generation immigrant
and a very successful businessman Victor you will be missed on behalf of all of us here tonight and on behalf of the bur family our condolences to his to his family his wife Kathy daughter an Marie son Victor his step children and very
proud grandchildren we have have a situation in town with the difficulty in getting an ambulance on the time on a timely basis when needed for our residents we have a meeting this Friday with Valley hospital and our administrator Eric Mau
council president Frank Matthews chief of police uh Neer uh Chief O'Brien from the ambulance Corps working together will be will'll find the solution for our residents taxes were due February 1st the grace period is extended to
Monday February 10th to avoid any late penalties our library has great programs for residents senior residents young adults and children please be sure to go to the website details are always on my Friday
letter A AARP is offering tax Aid preparation for senior residents in our library the library staff are not involved in the appointment making but you can you can email or telephone AARP to arrange meeting the flyer with more
information has been sent out in my Friday letters late last year I contacted our Surrogate Court Judge inquiring about free last will and Testaments for our senior residents I followed up on my inquiry earlier this month to see if the
arrangements could be made for them to come to hathorne on Friday April 11th the Bay County surrogate in partnership with Northeast New Jersey legal services will be hosting a free last will and testament event here at hathorne
municipal building for qualifying pay County senior age 60 and above and all veterans regardless of age on Friday April 11th on Saturday May 3rd pay County surrogate in partnership with Wills for Heroes foundation will be
providing Wills for pay County Law Enforcement firefighters and their spouses at pay County Police Academy in Flyers are posted in the in the burrow Hall and will be in my Friday letters I
cannot stress enough to slow down and pay attention when driving you will notice some of the orange standing markers have been removed but you will notice people parking in the yellow close to the curb you will be ticketed it is D is dangerous and there'll be
more information in my Friday letter pertaining to the police and uh and controlling uh traffic congestion again as I have said numerous times throughout the year if you see something that does not seem quite right please call our
Police Department when you see it so that they can respond immediately and Michael concludes my report and turn it over to you thank you mayor condolences to Anna maray on the passing of her father
um today in the pay County Superior Court judge El sardo the presiding judge had a case management conference scheduled in the several matters involving Phil spoila he has filed multiple matters uh pertaining to
Hawthorne and uh he did not shout so the matters will be rescheduled if he doesn't show again they'll be dismissed as to him but we will proceed with our counter claims because they're not going away on a positive note as the
informed the council there are 204 pending complaints against Phil spoila all pending in the Prospect Park Municipal Court Judge abduli has made clear he'll try all 204 of them and he
will continue to press to try the cases until Phil spoiler cleans up the mess that is his property so uh he going to do one by one he's going to do them one by one he has to but he will be trying all 204 he says if I have to be here
every week doing it we'll be here every week doing it but we will get to the conclusion of this and again the hope is that at some point he will clean up that disgusting mess um on a more positive
note we did have a special meeting last week of the municipal Council as was announced and the council voted unanimously to authorize the filing of a complaint called a prerogative Ritz complaint in the Superior Court challenging the number established by
the DCA the um Department of Community Affairs that ha had an obligation to build 300 new units of P prospective units of affordable housing uh our planner John Sabo determined that there were serious errors in the calculation
as we detailed such as counting Parklands water towers uh ball fields spaces already occupied wet lands steep slopes um our number is according to us
186 units it is still far too many and a vicin adjustment will still be sought but we did file our complaint any objections to the complaint have to be filed by the end of February otherwise our number of 186 prevails now the DCA
has candidly admitted that they were given a very short period of time and told to use old maps to come up with the number and they told the planner specifically you guys will probably get the number right and almost admitted
that they guessed at the numbers they were giving an impossible task In fairness um and so we do believe our number holds and I don't see any challenge that will be successful John is very very confident that he'll be
able to defend our number and then we go to the next step which is preparing our housing element and fair share plan um finally the band show committee is ready to get going it is that time of year I did at the chamber dinner book our
opening nights act which is Joe zesa and friends they will be there you hope we are hoping they are down one from last time um they lost one member but uh you know they are uh they're still plugging away the good news is we also have
Captain Jack on the schedule for the last and show it's the last Sunday in July hopefully time so that you can make it for a change I was there last year oh okay all right to get oh you stay for some of it yeah right okay follow up
yeah so um anyway look forward to some of the renewed acts some new acts and uh last year we tried to do 10 weeks 10 programs we have every intention of doing the same so stay tuned and we'll have more to come and that concludes my report mayor thank you Michael and now
turn it over to our engineer Joe burn thank you mayor uh the galvanized water service line replacement project phase three uh the contractor has completed service Replacements on Second Avenue and malwin Avenue as well as Hawthorne Avenue uh the contractor has begun
Replacements on Third Avenue and expects to complete the work in on the same in about 1 to 2 weeks uh the County Road opening permit for Diamond Bridge Avenue is still pending um as of uh January 31st last Friday uh the contractor had
completed um excluding final restoration um at 104 of the 298 Properties or approximately 33% of the properties uh for the 2024 roadway improvements Road program local Aid
project uh the remaining pun items and restoration items will be addressed when weather permits uh some of the items are going to be addressed in the spring mainly because they pertain to uh planting and seeding around those areas where work was done um to coincide with the planting
season uh the Franklin Field bleacher improvements project uh the Press Box and bleachers have been installed and electrical work is set to take place this week uh the Lafayette Avenue streetscape phase three project uh a
pre-construction meeting was held with AA burms LLC on uh last Friday the 31st uh construction is not anticipated to begin until the spring uh but efforts are being made to order the long lead time items such as the light poles and the uh tree
grates um wag Fields 2 and three bleacher improvements project uh Boswell has uh performed the partial topographic survey in preparation of creating site plan and uh that concludes my report mayor thank you Joe and now I'll turn it over
to our administrator Mr Eric Mau uh thank you mayor um the Administration has been hard at work on the 2025 oops Administration has been hard at work on the 2025 budget I've given the finance committee dates for initiation of their review um the review
process has begun um um for the architectural services for renovations to this building a memo in your folder addes the various Bond ordinance on this agenda we're intending to get an early start on the road program this year Mr burn assures me that we're on schedule
for that right Mr burn yes Property Owners affected by prospective assessments for sidewalks will be sent a notice with an invitation to attend the public hearing on March 5th um I have made an offer to a candidate to fill the vacant payroll accounts payable click position and expect to make one shortly
for the vacant water billing clerk position U the Grant application to uh New Jersey Department of Community Affairs seeking money to help fund replacement of the wag one uh bfield bleachers has been submitted this is a companion uh Grant application for uh
the county open space grant that we just had the hearing on and that resolution R 3425 uh um addresses for for that application a resolutions are 36 and 37 um are in preparation for the upcoming
new Jersey infrastructure Bank Bond sale to finance the P treatment system which which was completed last year and is in operation in an upcoming coming meeting of the finance committee I'll be discussing how much of this debt can be paid down in advance using pasos lawsuit
settlement funds uh saving interest in the long term and that concludes my report thank you Eric now Mr President we'll answer any questions that the council may have does anyone have any questions for the administration Joe all right let's start with the portapotty do we
know if it's been picked up it is still in use by the contractor they keep so to we we've told them I want to educate the council first so for the third time I called the company the
portapotty that is based at pump 7 behind the Bandshell has been flipped three times so when I walked the dog there it is upside down so I called the company first I called the mayor and asked permission to call call the company to have them come and flip it
reflip it and they did and the second time they did third time flipped totally upside down blew Frozen liquid everywhere and other items and it's still there it's it's still there the public work is checking
it daily to make sure that it stays upright and who's using it the contractor that is just completing the the Franklin field bleachers when they're done it will be gone why can't they put put stakes and chains on it so it can't be turned over I will defer you know the the
engineer is is is overseeing it on on our behalf they put stakes and chains on the Sid so it can't be turned over or put it in front of a camera no we don't want to know who did it we don't want it to happen I'll I'll look into it I'll make
some calls tomorrow I'll get it resolved thank you thank you second is Valley Hospital ambulance the only person we're going out to bid to see if they could do our services during the day we're not going out for bid we're going to see what the meeting uh involves on Friday
uh the last time I spoke with them there would be uh no charge for us right but then there is other there's St cla's there's a wonderful company called RWJ Barnabas there are other people who do this service ontime ambulance I just
wish we would consider you know each although we're not going to be charged the the resident I'm sure and their insurance company is going to be charged so we should go with whoever's offering the best for our residents I'll I'll
look into that Joe thank you and then lastly I brought up Mary Street water property SL maer property do we know if we had anyone go out there cuz when I went by after I spoke about it the debris field is still there the property
that is south of Maser no it's north north of merer south of Mary it's a huge wooded area we own mhm do we know if anyone went out there and cleaned it I'm not I'm unaware that they have so
what's in it Joe just litter it's just we all the wind it's recycling it's cardboard it's garbage I sent that email uh the day after the last council meeting so it was a I sent it on January
23rd two weeks okay I hope not two weeks that's a lot of garbage less than two weeks one week one week I'm getting snow tomorrow so well yeah that's true all right you're getting snow tomorrow you got
extra time they won't be able to find it it'll be all buried Michael uh yes I do have a few questions um Michael thank you for upd dating us on the speder um issue I did pass his uh
residence today and noticed that the collection has grown quite significantly so the question I have for the for the mayor is are we still uh giving him tickets daily daily basis okay with pictures right because it it's you know
for a while we got a little repri when we cleaned them out and I said well all right it doesn't look still looks awful because we didn't get all of it but it looked better and then I passed by today and it's almost you know almost to the front of his house again it's it's awful
okay um Michael on the DCA um issue um with the you said that they've admitted that you know they used old maps and they didn't have a lot of time um I understand a lot of municipalities have the same concerns
and issues that we've had U do you feel confident that they will adjust make the adjustments that we're we're actually submitting yeah um the way that it was set up in the legislation was DCA was to give a number and municipality had the
right to self-determine and so we did take advantage of that we determined our own number and the only way our number doesn't stick is if somebody successfully challenges that number DCA will not DCA okay will say okay you did
a more granular look than we did we did 562 different municipalities well except for the cities of course um and you did your own so yours is going to be more accurate so DCA will defer questions will fair share
housing or any private developer challenge our number I frankly don't see that the Battleground is likely to be on the base number because whether it's 300 or 186 we can't beat either one
we can't build that many units okay um and that's all I have thank you thank you in fact the census that we were all forwarded today shows a projected decrease in population for us, count no for horor itself it's
projected to go down about 500 I was there another because I only saw the county maybe it was another to it's not going down yeah maybe I missed that page what I was going to say was it another Tab and I didn't see it okay yeah yeah so how much have we projected to go
down about 500 or 600 we're at 196 now it's going to go down to about 191 what are they using that as a projection I'm just come with that number it's all those roller hockey families moving that's awful but it could be true could be deportations I don't know oh I'm
getting out of this conversation thank you any other questions anything else mayor that concludes a report from Administration okay have a motion record the administrative motion by scaras second by withi all in favor I motion
carries all right buckle your seat belts introduction of ordinances we have Bond ordinance number 2358 d25 a bond ordinance providing for the road reconstruction including Milling Paving and resurfacing as well as curbing handicap ramps and related improvements on various streets and properties
described herein Hereafter identified all in the burrow of foror in the county of Pake New Jersey appropriating $1,130 th000 therefore and authorizing issuance of bonds or notes for the same in the sum of 1,700
17,000 for the financing of the same previous all this Ordinance do now passed first reading of the ordinance be further considered for final passage at the meeting of the governing body in the municipal building 445 Lafayette Avenue oror New Jersey on March 5th 2025 at said time and place all persons
interested will be given an opportunity to be heard the clerk is hereby authorized and directed to publish the set ordinance in the record at least once one week prior to the said hearing with the notice of its introduction and time in place when and where said ordinance would be considered for final
passage give have a motion Move Motion second second SK Mr President just for the benefit of the public I want to let this ordinance and the next one are being financed through the New Jersey infrastructure bank to get low interest
um uh loan rather than our regular Bond ordinance even though it's we're authorizing bonds it's going to go through the njib to save money in the long term and that's a lesser interest rate than our normal Bond would be yes
okay roll call Bennett yes leosa yes skara yes wki yes Matthews yes motion carries Bond ordinance number 2359 d25 Bond ordinance providing for Road reconstruction reservice drainage curb
sidewalk and handicap ramp improvements on various streets as described specifically here in and B of for Thorne in the county of P New Jersey appropriating $768,000 therefore authorizing the issuance of bonds or notes in the amount of
$285,000 for the burrow financing the same be resolve this Ordinance do now passed a first reading and said orders be further considered for final passage at a meeting of the governing body in the municial building 445 laad Avenue New Jersey on March 5th at said time and place all persons interested will be
given an opportunity to be heard concerning the same the clerk is hereby authorized and directed to publish a set ordinance in the record once at least one week prior to the said hearing with the notice of its introduction of time and place when and where said ordinance would be considered final passage have a
motion Move Motion by Bennett second second by leosa uh more of the same but with the curbs and sidewalks call whaty yes skara yes leosa yes Bennett yes Matthews yes motion
carries Bond ordinance 23 6-25 a bond ORD is providing for the Reconstruction and replacement of sidewalks and driveway aprons on various streets as identified on the schedule made aart thereof described specifically herein in the bur of horor in the county of Pake
New Jersey appropriating $300,000 therefore authorizing the financing of bonds or notes in the amount of $285,000 of financing part of the cost thereof and directing special assessment of the cost thereof be resolve this ordinance has
now passed first reading and said ordinance be further considered for final passage at a meeting of the governing body in the municipal building 445 Lavette Avenue horor New Jersey on March 5th 2025 and at set time and place all persons interested will be given an opportunity to be heard concerning the same the clerk is hereby authorized and
directed to publish the set ordinance in the record at least one week prior to set hearing with the notice of its introduction and in place when and where said ordinance would be considered for final passage have a motion Bruce some okay uh scar
whaty you have this look on your face I figured I'd give somebody else okay any discussion sa mind for the fir I was doing the same thing that's so fast we may have a we may have a little twist there that's discuss keep keep us in
suspense you know every year we do these with these Special assessments with the driveways and the sidewalks and I just want to put this on the on the table that maybe we can reconsider this because we do this every year with the bond ordinance and then
several years later we have the the residents complain about the how many slabs this and that and then we negotiate back and forth it just seems like a very commerson process and then we have people that buy homes didn't know there
were special assessments is there any way that we can just consider possibly of just putting this as part of the of the road program absolutely can just it's a for consideration just a couple comments on it first of all the second issue about the delay we don't have we
will be doing this um now within a year of when uh we we do the ordinance the first question you can do it but if you do that you will either reduce the number of Roads you can pave because you
won't have the funding or you'll be increasing the debt service for the burrow in the long run if you continue to do the same number of Roads so it becomes a budgetary um issue that policy-wise you can decide to do anything you want to
but but there are implications well of course there's always implications for anything thing it's just that there's been a lot of unintended consequences with this the last several years being up here and listening to the residents so um it's just an an idea on the table
just maybe to consider um the ordinance committee it's something to think about because we've been doing this and I and I understand that we had delays because of covid and the timing and we're getting up to speed I so much I don't think it's so much the ordinance
committee I think it's more the finance committee yeah if you want to take the pie and cut it into more corners that's the finance committee the ordinance committee is they're the ones who just present the ordinance after the finance committee says this is how
you're going to do it okay and aren't you on the finance committee I am on the finance committee there you go but is Public Safety that determines the roads correct Public Works work Public Works sorry isn't that but Finance determines how much money yeah but if there's no
money they don't do it yeah if the finance committee says we we're going to we're going to have to cut back the amount we do then the Public Works will have a a smaller allocation to work with and they'll come up with roads and that are
within the or you're raising taxes to offset the amount that you're automatically included right so I mean that's the that's the give and take yeah well I I think it should just be disconsidered yeah when we when we finish the budget we can have the the finance committee can have a meeting and
we can discuss those options and before we put together a road program for 200 26 the question I have is I if Council councilwoman Le's biggest concern is the that the residents have coming here because they're getting
notices two years later well we know part of that's going to be a leave because it's only going to be a year it's still not great but we have to go out you know for Bond we have to you know secure the money first and then we have to secure the the you know then the
engineer is going to go out and get the qualified uh um you know supplies that can go out and you know do that takes time so I don't know if there's other than trying to do it all at one time with the road program I don't know if another
another way to do this I don't know if all towns are doing Special assessments for their sidewalks looking at the attorney so there's very few towns that actually do assessment the number of towns is uh less than 10%
of all municipalities I think it's less than five um there last we heard there were four or five in the whole state so it's not a very typical program um and it let's face it an assessment is a tax it's in the form of an assessment but
the taxpayers are still bearing the cause it's just a more focused group versus the entire town and so you get into a philosophical question is sidewalk being used by the individual who owns the house or everybody who walks up and down the street and uh
these are tough questions because there's some people in town who will never get an assessment a because they don't live on a street that had sidewalks or B they live on a county road so you know some people will always escape the payment other people will not
so it's it's a tough question it's really a philosophical debate I suggest it's not any one committee I think it's really the council as a whole that has to decide is this what you wish to do I I just if I could just point out that this past weekend I took a very long walk to the barber and I can tell you
that the county roads those sidewalks are in horrific condition and I think the way we do it and it has been done historically and I know that they've every time they've come back and said we're in good fiscal standing the engineer for years
Dr Boswell said there is no other town around us that keeps the road programming going and yes because we do so well and the administration does so well we're able to finance those more roads and there is that assessment we
can certainly look at it re one other thing that's a side effect is now the town assumes liability for all sidewalks right now it's on the homeowner so you triping full you're suing the homeowner's insurance anybody trips on once we take them all over it's
on us the I mean the other issue is right now if if you say we want to assess um five slabs they'll say how about only three if if if if in if we take a responsibility we say we'll take five slabs and they'll say why not these
other two so you will get pressure to do more rather than pressure to do less which will have an additional match the old ones I we we'll have an you know an additional impact on cost I think there's and cons yes there are there definitely are and so that's it's a
policy choice that needs to be made okay roll call wki yes skara yes leosa yes Bennett yes Matthews yes motion carries zoning ordinance number 23612 an ordinance to amend and
supplement chapter 540 zoning ordinance of The Bu of hathorne Pake County New Jersey regulating gasoline St service stations with the convenience stores in the B1 Zone we resolved that this ordinance has now passed first reading said ordinance be further considered final passage at a meeting of the
governing body in the municipal building 445 Lafayette Avenue horor New Jersey on March 5th at said time in place all persons interested will be given an opportunity to be heard concerning the same and the clerk is hereby authorized and directed to publish ordinance in the record at least once at least one week
prior to set hearing with its notice of introduction and time in place wiw said ordinance would be considered for final passage have a motion so so moved motion by Bennett second pway techi and what this ordinance is it allows there's two or three existing gas stations that this
would allow them to have their their Bays if they're not no longer fixing cars to be a convenience area so this resolves the uh this resolves the situation on L there's one on left yet too yeah those two that we know about
good um any other questions or discussion wki yes skara yes leosa yes Bennett yes Matthews yes motion carries Bond ordinance 23622 Bond ordinance providing for the
acquisition of fire department Capital Equipment specifically fire apparatus in the bur of horor in the county of bake New Jersey appropriating the sum of $1,700,000 therefore and authorizing issuance of bonds or notes for the burrow in the amount of
$1,615 for the financing of the same prr resolve this ordinance is now pass the first reading and that said ordinance be considered for final passage at a meeting of the governing body in the municipal building 445 Lafayette Avenue horor New Jersey on March 5th 2025 and
at said time and place all persons interested will be given an opportunity to be heard concerning the same and the clerk is hereby authorized and directed to publish the set ordinance in the record once at least one week prior to set hearing with the notice of its introduction time and place when and where said ordinance to be considered
for final passage have a motion motion by Bennett second second Bosa discussion council president may I just interject one thing so uh Lor had approached me at the beginning of the meeting pointing out the fact that there only five of us up here Bond ordinances
require five affirmative votes um under the category I will miss him when he's gone my administrator said well that would be great Michael if this was adoption of the ordinance which requires five votes introduction requires a simple majority
so the rule of necessity that we earlier spoke of Joe that would have allowed you to vote you can't vote and so we give it in 20 years I've waited 20 years so yes ordinarily if this was adoption the rule
of necessity would have allowed Joe to cast the fifth affirmative vote but we don't need you Jee so so the rule of necessity does not apply simple majority is required for this introduction have you been going night school for law uh
he's just he's just very smart do you want me to vote no Joe so you could uh rule necessity I've I've probably sat at um for um on Council meetings for sorry got it
votes sooner or later the question comes up and and I Happ to remember the answer well good can I comment to remember it too Bruce yes um as a member of the Public Safety Committee um I think everyone in town knows that we have some
of the most dedicated volunteer firefighters in the state but to do their jobs and to protect our residents they need state-of-the-art equipment that isn't going to break down that's going to get the job
done uh $1,700,000 yes it's a lot of money I know God I'm I'm keeping it short it is a lot of money but I tell people until it's your house then it's a
wise investment so we got to keep these guys supplied with the equipment they need to keep our residents safe they answer an amazing number of calls a year too many for a small town my cars but so Mr may I
comment am I allowed to comment what I just want to I don't want to talk to him I'm talk to you no I my comment is not about the finance it's about fact about building a fire engine now and that if you order it
now it won't even be ready for two and a half years from now because they're so backed up so you're what you're saying yes to now some of us wouldn't even be up here here when it's finished why did you hear
something might be talking about me Bruce Joe that's what that's kind of what also went into the decision from the finance committee to say um yes it's a lot of money and it was a lot less the last time we bought that vehicle but everything's so much for supply chain
shortages being over but you're right see I didn't talk about Hawthorne fire department I talked about producing a fire engine we're going to remove every bit of that from the minutes when they're put together Mr President just a comment to follow up on what councilman
Benet said uh the rescue company does a lot more than just rescue people from a car or or whatever uh they they have gone into the river they have gone into the ponds um and the equipment that they
have uh some of the equipment for the jaws of life Etc are really outdated uh because what they're doing is the car manufacturers are putting in different steel uh in the doors and in the in the bodies of the cars and this way the the
uh by the jaws of life that we have now which is which is good to cut up to five ton uh limit uh won't do it because now it's got to be a 10 10 million um a 10 ton limit uh for that plus the the
operation of generators to uh run the equipment now is basically old and now everything is by battery so uh you know it just takes a tremendous amount of extra equipment that we that we need and that they need uh to really do their job
properly if I don't know if anybody has seen them doing ice rescue and uh on the pond they do it at night they do it during the day uh just to get familiarized with how to do the equipment and work at night and work
during the day it it's uh it's uh I have to say they they all the companies uh do a a tremendous amount of schooling and uh we should be honored that they do that uh for the protection of all our citizens fair enough roll call Bennett
yes leosa yes skara yes wui abstain stain Matthews yes motion carries resolutions we have cassette agenda R 31-25 to r 37-25 r 31-25 is a
refund overpayment of taxes R 32-25 redeemed tax sale certificate R 33-25 shared services with County for signed production R 34-25 is a 2025 open space Grant application for the adaa bleachers
at Franklin Field R 35-25 is a 2025 C cdbg Grant applications for Ava ramps at various locations R 36-25 is the 2025 njib combination resolution R 37-25 is the
2025 njib form and sale resolution have a motion so Move Motion by skira second second by leosa any discussion roll
call Excuse me wki yes skara yes Osa yes Bennett yes Matthews yes motion carries resports reports of special councel committees Joel will start your
way I'm going to touch on this just real quick I've had some concerns about the Board of Health meetings that I attend I spoke with the mayor earlier today there will be emails coming out in regards to some of the concerns and some of the members concerns so we will keep you
informed as things progress yes good Mike no no I have nothing Rea um you want to make an announcement um the horron environmental commission we have um good news there are four garden beds
available to the public um so we're going to be launching it there's four um deadline to return the application in the uh disclaimer the hold harmless is February 19th Wednesday so please get your applications in they're posted on
the website a press release will be going out and all over Facebook about the four garden beds and we'll be selecting the winners at the Green Team on February 24th so please get your applications in we did go back to the residents who did not get selected last
year so they've been notified and um Good Luck to everyone out there there's four beds available 4 by eights thanks R could uh could you give uh myself or uh Ellen the information to put it in my Friday letter that would be great Ellen
put everything up on the website already so that's good great yep good go ahead Joe question about the Riverwalk was that oh so um the gpw they actually just cut it Jo I saw it but I really appreciate you reaching out to me because when I went to the recycling I
don't know if you noticed but there were two things that were missing um the rain Garden sign and the canoe the gateway to the pic River so Downstream missing I I didn't know I
called Mike Ferrera and he said someone HIIT it it was like on the ground I was like okay so I called DPW and um the guys picked them up for me I don't know when they picked him up but it was in the garage so both items the canoe and
the rain Garden sign the DPW has but the bottom um the wood it's all rotten so I think with all the floods it it just kind of caved um but they found the signs so um so that was something that
was missed but I did notice they cut the um the wooden um rail so hopefully no one won't hit it again because the handicap I don't I don't know I know that when I saw that they cut it so um what was right in the post no there's
there was the wooden Rail and then there's a handicap parking space and we believe someone might have tried to get in the handicap cap and hit the wooden so DPW just cut it and it may be best that it is cut because if someone's going to miss you know they'll go into
the rain [Laughter] Garden you know um but yeah so but I'm surprised you missed the signs but that's okay I got the signs not get out of my car I was like holy cow look at
that yeah no I went in the parking lot wood barrier to the rainb and that's a heavy it was heavyduty like wood it wasn't like a flimsy 4x4 so [Music] um shouldn't have rot it if it was
womanized no the railing didn't rot it's the post they were 4x4s if you use pre-treated ored I'd love to see the car that car has got to be wrecked yeah I don't know I don't know but all I know is that DPW has my okay signs and we'll
put it back up we'll address it in the spring when it's warm Bruce sir um I have two the Chamber of Commerce wishes to thank everyone who attended the company of the Year annual dinner last Friday to honor two of our local
businesses and last night at the planning board we had one tenant review for rid junk on wagger Road and he was outlining some new equipment placement and he uh it was refreshing that an actually came voluntarily to say I want to update my application
I did ask about the he did it already and now he's applying no no what happens is he Incorporated uh Marshall moving and uh he bought he bought another similar company uh and he was talking about the
pods and he said we we said only two high not three um because I know that was one of your concerns you know how high are we allowing it well if I'm living at Hedges and I'm paying 3,000 I'm living at Hedges I'm paying $3,500 a month to live there I don't want to look
out my window and see Port norc he's also going to be planting more trees and bushes on that common separation between by the little where the Gazebo was by the dog park he's going to be planting more uh screening all right
yep and we also had two other applicants that decided not to show up so those applications were dismissed without prejudice without prejudice without prejudice so if they want to reapply they can but they're goingon to have to pay another fee that's all I have correspondence we
have C1 which is the 2024 annual report of the Zoning Board of adjustments have a motion to record motion motion by leosa second second by wki roll call Bennett yes leosa yes
skara yes wki yes Matthews yes motion carries bills have a motion to approve the bills and forward them to the treasur for payment some move second motion by skira second by leosa any discussion on any of the bills roll call wucky abstain on the
fire department yes on all cut me off yes on everything leosa yes Bennett yes Matthews yes motion carries public comment I'll now open the meeting to the public anyone desires to be heard please raise your hand to be recognized come forward to the
microphone Mr lore well done we'll get your microphone getting your M up thank you Jack lore 319 van Wile Avenue thank you very much one of my hobbies in retirement is Consulting the New Jersey
unclaimed funds website and I see that we have in the name of the Bureau of Hawthorne eight accounts uh I don't know how much money is involved sometimes it's just a um a phone bill or phone deposit but if the
council or the mayor would appoint me as a third party locator I would be happy to apply on behalf of the bureau without any finders fee uh just for the fun of it uh we'd be happy to research it um so that's what I'm here to say thank you okay as a matter of fact councilman
skier's wife or friend was on site the other day and she said hey Chrissy you have you have something in your name here she got $100 it was like12 found money we can give you a finder fee all I shall thank you very much thank
you oh Jack you were right about that transposed uh pointed out to our planner and they said Thank You That Somebody reads these things Happy New Year 16 rizon Terrace uh I'm going to address this
with the mayor sure about two months ago the town attorney said that you're going to send a letter up to the building department to force my neighbor to get a building permit how's that being expedited now and do you have the paperwork for that because I'm going to
get it from Oprah and retrieve that do you want to know anything about that I I don't recall saying anything along those lines Ron I didn't say that the mayor was going to compel your neighbor to get a building permit to the
contrary the building department issued a notice of violation to your neighbor for failing to get a building permit I'm sorry Mike I was I don't have a memory loss and I well I guess I do then um go ahead you
want to interrupt me go ahead I'm not going to interrupt but well you did you're in the wrong Street go ahead I'll listen we issued a notice of violation for failure to get a permit to erect the wall that they erected and the County
board of appeals denied the uh upheld their appeal basically so for what what reason did they give did they appeal to in I didn't see any written uh document that indic was you know this gets deeper and deeper and deeper and about three
months ago I'm looking out my window there's five firemen and two police officers so I go out my house around the corner and I make five steps and I've gone oh my God it's like a sponge the neighbor's house broke the pipe which
added more water to that problem I got so I'm going to get the Oprah for that too from the fire department and the police department because that compromised my Foundation I you can't imagine what's going on in that property none of you guys came in take a look you
came and take a look when it was raining you put that little bird here from the when they put the sidewalk not the sidewalk but the curb curb cut yeah the curb that was nice you to do that for them that didn't work I could show a picture of the water just gushes over that where they Park their cars and another thing
is this is my taxes $3,700 I got $7,000 tied in lawyer fees I'm on a fixed income I'm a widower this is UN this un despicable it's where am I
going what are you guys going to do and told listen what are you can't see CL it's sink holes if you come and see my land it's got a gully like this sooner or later there's going to be a catastrophic issue then what do you still I'm just asking for the right
thing the zoning board gave the guy the wrong perit he should knew right right away he needed an engineering Joe knows that I know that it's in the it's in your records it's in the the uh the Barrow of Hall the all the codes and all
the things for that wall to be erected it's over 4 feet you need engineering he neglected to do that he needed seepage he neglected to do that and you can confer with him and that's the proper procedure to do that I'm at my top here
I cannot deal with this no more my wife has gone three years I look out the window every day and see that mud hole that this guy made and you guys just say what are he going to do Ron you're pointing your finger you're pointing
your finger at me that was done before my my you remember me talking to you in the Brownstone do you remember that let me ask you that question I talked to Goldberg that day it was under it was under mayor Goldberg he called he called me that he said Ronnie we're going to take care of this the next day he calls
me he says Ronnie I need to talk to you come down I go in there and Mike comes in two minutes later this is all civil it wasn't civil then and the more you just keep on digging the hole to me I you know look my whole my whole family was in law enforcement
they were in the court system I I do a lot of research I know all the ins and outs this is getting dirty when I get the lights all on you won't have to worry about seeing everything so try to try to figure out which is are going to do because I my attorney gave me some
good news the other day but this still is a problem every time it rains come and take a look and you'll see I got it on my phone I can't show each one of these because and I have a tech guy and I ask you to put the USB in there it has nothing to do with the
computer it goes from the USB to that TV not into a computer and if you would see it how it exped expedited from the beginning to now you if it was your property it'd be app pulled guaranteed we can check into the files
but it was Al it was before my time and it was before the construction wait let me finish it was before the construction official that we hired now before his time so he's just picking up what what's going on and trying to make
high trying to make ends meet here what as what what it is go this is this is the and I was at your property and I walked it with you this was theep didn't I yes but this is the epitome of how this was all expedited Peter was the
engineer I see him outside with the uh the oino the code official I go out there and I stand next to him and I open my ears and I listen so the code official asked Peter are you going to sign off on this and Peter goes I'm not
signing off on this I got no plans right then and there he should have shut the job down just like that shut the job down is that the way it goes if you don't sign off it you can shut the job down Ron what was the code official's name the austino or something is that it
no that's not his name he's the small guy he was a small guy he's still employed here dius Dennis I don't know listen we don't usually call him a small guy but well he's a big guy but he didn't do the big job supp he he uh listen Ron you and I have been
through this we've all been through this you talk over me all you want never mind you would think that anary I'm here here and trying to get my house in order I bought this house for an investment not to go in reverse if I went you sold
your house on the corner there and I made a mess over there and you dropped 3 400 Grand you'd be SI you'd be sicking to your stomach too $3,700 $5500 in in attorney fees and I'm still standing in the safe spot five years and yes Mr
Goldberg I think was going to take care of me until whatever happened so don't worry my attorneys you like you said I'm going for the insurance company but this is this this town's got to be uh not Li I won't say liable but they got to step
up and say you know Mr vogle we were you know we did the wrong thing we're going to make it do something figure it out fellas have a nice day ladies and gentlemen okay keev a motion to close the public
portion of the meeting so moved second motion by skira second by leosa all in favor I motion carries the next council meeting is Wednesday February 19th 2025 at 7 p.m. have a motion to adjourn so moved motion by wki second by
skier all in favor we're adjourned