e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e ready thank you okay 7 o'clock I call tonight's council meeting to order roll call Bennett here leosa mey here saso here skara here Wy here Matthews here please rise and join us in the Pledge of Allegiance Pledge Allegiance flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands one nation God indivisible with liy and justice for all adequate notice of this meeting has been provided by the annual schedule of regular meetings herefor adopted and posted on the public bolon board at the municipal building emailed to The Herald News the record The Gazette and all persons whove requested the mailing as such since December 7th 2023 have approval of the minutes for the meeting of April 3rd so move second Mo byki second by skir any discussion roll call wki yes skara yes saso yes mey yes leosa oh she's is she still absent she's still not here okay she not coming Bennett yes Leos Matthews not here here I want her to be you can't wish her into existence you still wanted here right oan carries a public comment open a meeting to the public anyone desires to be heard on agenda items come forward to the microphone state your name seeing none have a motion to close the public portion of the meeting second motion byki second by skier all in favor I I motion carries public hearing we have the 2021 Road program special assessments an now for the meeting to the public anyone desires to be heard regarding the 2021 Road program special assessments please raise your hand come forward to the microphone and state your name for the record sidewalks I guess there's nobody here either right okay sidewalks yep come on up they're all here for [Music] you it's like the price is right you're you have to introduce yourself first hi my name is Ivor noo 36th Avenue right here author okay wait for to record it REO Ian thank you uh so I got this not a bill for $1,764 for sidewalks I do not own so what do you means for sidewalks you do not own well my property survey shows that my property ends before the sidewalks so why should I be paying for repairs to property that I do not own well if that's not a bill is probably but a bill is going to be coming I know that but that is not for necessarily is it say for this year it's for the sidewalk project that happened outside my house no but for what year I just want to verify that we're talking in the in the proper Mike you want to take a look at it for him yes no the attorney right there I just want to make sure it's in the 2021 program otherwise it's a different portion of the meeting to speak at okay so while you have it answer question because this is the same question we all have we got this so if we all got this why are we paying for projects on our that's not our property yeah I would have to surve thank you mayor I would have to see the surveys go over with the engineer surve I'm going to need your property survey yeah that's on file so you can just get it from there yeah no no no you you have a survey right there yes that is what I copies you could get the one that town has on we don't have copies of your survey yeah because I've done projects in the town so the town has my survey well you might be unique and have that but not everybody does so the bottom line is this um we'll look into it because if the gentleman is right and and it's not his property then we may have an issue there let's look into is the issue that the sidewalk is along the front of your property of buding it but you but say it's not on your property or is it the issue that it's in front of somebody else's property the the I'm on 10th a and different spots of 10th a had work done on it right and then we received a not a bill but it's going to be a bill to come yeah for work that's not my property but when you say it's not your property it's because you're saying it's it's it's in front of your property but not but uh in in the right away rather on your property or it's in front of somebody else's property it's not my property in the right property right away well he's not saying the right away he's actually saying it's not his property I've heard him said that several times in fact most right away is it in front of your house or some else House part of a resident property again i' I'd have to look at the survey to understand what his individual circumstance is more often than not our property owners own their property and we have a right away across that property but that still doesn't change the fact it's your property that's more often than not the case there might be a circumstance where for somebody actually does not own the property and the sidewalk is not his so we have to look at that yeah so I think that's what the majority of people have a problem okay not a problem at all whoever's got the same issue well yeah we actually we're not going to do it by majority I need to know exactly who because I'm going to say a lot of the people don't have the same circumstance you have okay so we'll look at them all so that for 3610 f it not my property yeah no we we we that part we had we wrote it many times already I love lawyers I watch a lot of e legal eagle uh so I guess that's it anything else Mr Roso can if I may ask you um the very first notice of the road program was sent February of 2021 did you own the house then I've owned the house for the past 17 years okay did you receive that notice back in 2021 probably yeah oh okay I I don't really know it's you know a lot of mail comes in all right just a question throw it away right fair enough anyone any other questions for the studio audience okay anyone else supposed to be heard on the sidewalk sidewalk ordinance sir you'll go last's not the same neighor I'm John P P P 48 pord okay I'm here about the sidewalk work that was done up there for D I see you limited me to certain things okay number one uh I want to congratulate you for speeding up the process of getting these assessments done because we're not due till next year because you just s up harmal and it happens to be a couple of houses for sale on banford right now so that's two less people that'll be surprised next year okay um my major issues are communication supervision and expectations but I'm supposed to be limited to the bill so I'll stay there and if you have questions about my concerns then that's where those other categories come in all right so going down on the 4 inch concrete sidewalk I'm assessed for 6.67 square yards I'm going over my bill that's why we're here right okay so I'm going to disagree with that I want 88 square yards uh subtracted from that which is sidewalk that they took away from me if I go into the next Category 6 in concrete driveway work it's got 7.22 square yards I'm going to dispute that and say it should be zero and and on the third part soft costs $223 32 I don't know what what's in the soft course there's no explanation for that that's the engineering the mailings things like that that go towards it observation the mailings OB engineer to observe it being built and obviously to engineer the project and put it out the bid okay so I could talk about mailings sure okay this project started out with a certified letter to the homeowners uh I think Joe and Frank you were copied on the the letter that I sent back that my house wasn't on the list and then to make a long story short the list of houses was two sides they only mailed that one side well they only copied one side and that was a mailing so they had to mail everything out again when this came came certified mail $869 return receip request am I supposed to return this receipt from the postal office with the address on it this happens a lot with the post office in fact we're missing a mailbox the drive-through mailbox is not there right just dis been there recently the other day and and that's what it uh okay I understand there were some problems with uh this vendor in the past but I think the whole project lacked supervision and this is a street that had an extra supervisor on the street at all times who didn't know anything about cement so the reason we deducting money from the 4 inch and this is not for me this is more for the people out there there's something uh I call it a courtesy slab that's what I asked when I asked my father what what is this for oh that's for people to get in and out of the car so they don't have to step in the mud that's that slab that fits between the curb and the sidewalk in order to put in curbs that has to be removed that is never marked with an X that they're going to remove it so that's one surprise on P ply I I have a lot of uh uh Ed uh knowledge of the job on P leav and it was excellent from top to bottom now I'm on banford AV so it's a tail of two streets I couldn't imagine another scario that would make that experience worse so starting with the communications you see you had to do two Communications and on the end you see I got the receipt not not you so that's that slab what I would suggest is when the BOS letter goes out they tell the people that in order to put this the curb in they have to take that slap out so there should be an x on it now apart they did that and I think they charged them for the cement they put back that was fine with me because I was going to replace it anyway we were going to sell the house the you know my mother and mother-in-law were in the house they were both going to go to a a mental uh uh you know home so uh I wanted it done anyway so there was no extra course on my street I knew they were going to take this laab out because I have the knowledge from formula f what they took out was six feet they put back four so that was one of one of the things so to allow me to talk here I lost two feet of of SM I put it back but it was at my cost so the people that are getting their their this next round for this year and you're working on the specs should know that that slab has to come out in order to do the curving we got four feet free supposedly and according to the calculations in here we did I think on my mother's house she had to pay communication if aswell told us that they're taking that slab away and you have more than 4 feet you're only going to get 4 feet back back it would give the customer the option to get no replace what I have I had six feet from PSC andj when they came to change all the the the gas lines the guy asked how many feet you want also make it six because I like to put my barrels on there so they don't roll away or blow over so that that should be a heads up to the people out there that are getting their stuff done this year if you got a slab between the curb and the and the the lawn you know the sidewalk they're going to take that away they have to put the forms in to do the the Curbing and they're only going to put four feet back they can mention that in the letter and then nobody else will be disappointed on the six inch stuff um expectations I have a 10-ft driveway I expected two 5T slabs to replace the two 5T slabs that I had something happened on the the house before me they ran out of cement on one of the pores so instead of them going uh 555 and then he it goes 50 in 40 in and then and then they started with the fives so I end up with half of the five foot slab in my driveway so the driveway instead of being five and five on the length I have 35 59 and 22 I had two Wings on the driveway pointed that out to the uh to the Eng to the inspector engineer inspector there and uh the three three of us it was me the two inspectors that we had we h B well hired are looking at it and then they called over the supervisor with the the owner Jamie who always roded around in that little truck that's another story he wasn't even aware of it that they had did done that that the at the end of the the poor that they didn't you know really pushed the whole thing over if my neighbor who didn't have the that repl was the the driveway it would have gone I don't know how many houses up that everything would have been out of out of line so I didn't accept it I had a driveway that I was putting in at the same time that year so uh I had them take it out and I paid for the two slabs for a replacement just why we could continue with the with the driveway work and the other part of the uh the 7 in the 6 in uh uh is the apron when they put the lopsided sidewalk in front of at the end of the driveway they centered the apron on the middle of the 5- foot piece thinking it was the middle of the driveway it's not so if anybody go looks at at it you could everybody that comes oh what happened here everything is off and because it's not centered part of my apron is missing from the driveway that happened to develop a crack two years ago March I called in that I that I had a crack in my apron oh we have money put aside for with that it was uh Lori that that called it and she was the person in charge of that and she'll say she said uh we'll get back to you with in in a few days two years later I nobody got back to me and then on further review in October of 22 22 I was put on the list to redo it h to red do it no to fix the crack that's what I mean cuz it was a little Hill line crack at that point from top to bottom I don't know where the crack start started but it wasn't a crack that ke kept uh getting big it was like my wife discovered it in February and you know I'm there uh shoveling snow and into the holiday we didn't see it so I'm still waiting for that crack to be fixed supposedly the last thing I heard is somebody has some doubt that it could have been the driveway people that caused the track the crack which is nonsense I told spokes to someone ble yesterday and they looked on the chart and they don't have any record of a crack being reported so uh I'm not going to pay for the apron until something is done now because we had death in the family I only called bosel yesterday I don't know if they came back with any answers today but at least I hit the deadline for for that um I expected two slabs at the end of the driveway and everybody I talk to says yeah that's not right the the engineer that was there saying that's not right but you know what he says he needs a reason for the contractor to to tell the contractor to dig it up so he's looking at the building C the codes the code doesn't say anything about it according to him and the code doesn't uh say what the minimum length of a a sidewalk slab should be five is the max if you want to put in a three slab according to the code it's okay all right I remember when my I did my mother's driveway the apron before you announced that you were doing promly a and the guy there we had a little hangover that uh had to be little hangover that had to be placed down uh so it was 10 ft and a little bit and that little bit I had to make the whole slab 6 in because of one part of the slab has to be 6 in the whole slab now I don't know what code he's looking at cuz every town has different restrictions stuff like that but I expected two two5 foot pieces of of cement at the end of the driveway using the code he he said that this he can't order the contractor to redo it so I got a driveway coming I says all right I'll do it I'll live up to that promise if all the other things are taken care of so it cost me $600 to replace the cement and then I put my $6,000 driveway if somebody like me who doesn't you know do this stuff all the time orders a new uh cement in the front of the driveway the expectation is it's going to be five and five and everything's going to line up pretty like my neighbors I'm left-handed that's why I should have that moving over there you go okay I don't have a flag or anything but I'm left-handed we don't we don't get a holiday or a day off or anything for that so that's my expectation I think it's a reasonable expectation and I'm and I'm very disappointed that I had to put the money out but I'm the owner of the house and I want it to look a certain way like I want to match everybody else's apron and sidewalk so is there anything you can do when you write the specs where the building code uh fall short or the engineer engineering company fall short that you could protect the people in the future that if they're getting sidewalk replaced that on bottom of the driveway the contractor has to put two complete slabs I mean when they're digging the trenches for the the hole for the the forms the they come to a 6 inch a drop from the four I mean it's there hey I'm different than the guy in Fr the behind me or in front of me so if you can do that maybe it won't happen to anyone else I don't know if anyone else had that problem in the past no where the fo and cook the specs that they standed are do and one thing led to the other and that's how the apron got out of whack and that's how I think my apron cracked it didn't crack from from the the driveway people and I could tell you from from when uh they replaced the old piece of cement I looked out the window one day it's on top of my apron and it's slanted slanted because you got 6 in here and 4 in there so obviously it's not and it was right on the piece of the apron that had the crack in it I don't think that caused the crack but uh we know how this guy was with the trees when he came to come and pick it up again very easy to puncture this the concrete with the the pointers so that basically covers that uh so I wanted to warn everybody about the the thing with the curb it's not you could put it in the lad you know we may have to remove your curbing between the the curb and and the grass we're willing to put four feet back if you want whatever you had originally then you work that out with the with the contractor and we had to wait 3 months for the paving I think I know why I might have discovered another one of Biden shell companies the uh contractor that you approved doesn't do anything they hire the cement contractor he doesn't have any employees he had to go out and get employees and uh on the website you see they can use non people so the persons that made the mistake of not doing the full slabs or not respecting the boundary lines or causing the shift in my who knows where they came from because it's not a a company I wanted to have the the the company that did the town I wanted them to do the the driveway they made a lot of sense and such a wonderful experience with pet I figured I was in good hands so to avoid having people get into the position that I was in maybe you can tweak the specs when they go out you think if Ender's going to charge more because oh I want I want the drivewood slabs to be together straight if he's going to charge more for that then he doesn't put belong in the business because that's how it should be done um I so I called that company soon soon as it was approved at the council I called the company I want additional cement work and I want to put in a new driveway well we don't we don't they gave me the contractor's name for the cement so I call the cement guy yeah I just found out about it I got to find some some employees oh and I don't do the paving so then I call back the company that you approved and said oh we're not going to find the payer for a month or two we were all finished up about August 7th and we got a our uh driveways our uh Road put in November 7th because that's when the school break was everything was revolved around the the school there all the other streets Arlington uh B Vista parly it was one after the other that you came down you hit Bank granford you didn't do Brookside that's lucky for them all right so that's why why I'm uh questioning your bill questioning the bill it's like this communication that one letter from Boswell at the beginning uh the supervisor they put on the street I guess to take care of the tree problem I don't know somebody down the street from me well I'm looking at my kakami sidewalk there in front of the the driveway they just sto the cuac down the road that that the cement went on the person's lawn and all around they I lat we later saw them take that cement away and the guy was in his truck I can't tell exactly what he said but it wasn't it's a good day in the neighborhood well I will have our engineer talking over with yeah they're going to talk over the driveway the driveway they whatever they it shouldn't have been that way now legally I think they broke the code when a 5 foot slab half is 4 in and half is 6 in because that's what the other company used that I used to do my mother's say April if it's part of your driveway it should be six well the whole slab should be six yes okay so so I I gave that information to to Boswell baswell has no record of my uh crack in the apron how did you give it to him did you email it to him did you email the information to them or how did you get it no I I reported it to Lori okay she was in charge of the actually I made a cold call I didn't know who to call my wife tells me there's a crack in the I said what are you talking about I went out there it happened in February do you remember who you spoke to yes Lorry oh okay you just called L I thought you called well that's the person that they sent me to she was she was in charge of that and she was very nice and uh she told me that uh oh yeah we have money put aside for that and there was other people that I talked to through to the through the the thing the until I till I got to the October I'm put on the list who who has his list I do not know okay and uh everybody says they uh they uh we have money put aside for okay so somebody's holding me up for two years every 3 months I checked I'm down here I paid the bill how's my thing oh you're still on the list you're still on the list okay do you have a a committee that supervises no I mean we're in charge of laws and providing money the the things you're talking about is more an engineering issue and and legal um well what's engineering issue would a crack they cracked why don't so you should be getting an answer from the engineer the whole apron is misplaced that's why I think it's it's okay it's that nothing lines up I will have the engineer go back out there and look at it as far as whether it's 5 foot 4 foot three foot there is no code that says what it should be but common sense and Aesthetics you would think that gets into the you know you don't want to hear about quality well quality should follow I thank you for letting me say that but also too you you know you could prevent some of these things who would expect my my the cement in front of the driveway is going to be lops on nobody I had an expectation it to be a certain way okay nothing I can do about it I pay for a new one don't let that happen to the next guy on the next street we will ask them to put in specs that things are people that you're doing this year have you changed the water lines well that's what we're trying to do with the water lines is make sure we're doing them on streets that we are you know trying to coordinate both projects at the same time that's right so if you look at a halfhazard waterline replacement it's based on the road reconstruction schedule okay maybe May should move over there the thank you for your time all right thank you if you can uh follow up with uh we'll have someone get back to you from the engineers's office to see what's going on if they give me the new apron they don't have to fix the crack okay all right all right thank you thank you engineer have his address yeah is anyone else wish to be heard on the sidewalk ordinance nope not you yes hi my name is Rafel my English is not too well I'm going to go right to the bottom that's it straight up we have a problem with the cor on the bottom my driveway was good my sidewalk was real good for some reason they desire the mark But to change the curve they also have to change my my side for the concrete I don't say nothing I ask the guy do I have to pay for this he goes no worry everything's going to be okay now I got a bill what's about what's this all about cuz you want to change the curve you got to change also my concrete my concrete was good we decide because a lot of people they complain the same way M the prop the owner but my concrete my concrete is good you come in to decide the change that curve and I got to pay for my conre was good and also they did two times not one time because there the first time and they was all screwed up we called the guy says this is an unacceptable the guy came he says yes you're right we do it again so why I should have pay for this first of all did you give your house address that the clerk got your street address address address 28 okay um I don't know the specifics of why they did it a lot of times they change the curbing at the bottom of your driveway because there's a change in elevation of the street but my my sidewalk was good you know order sometimes because they know sometimes could be a damage and they did bad bad job were there white x's on your SL they desire to put W but whatever they did we was not aware about Stu like that because what they did that they coming in they Chang what they have to do I says why they change my sidewalk because everything the concrete is good so they decide their own way and like I said to you before they did two times because the first time was very terrible and they Chang also the company the first time they Chang the concrete so they a different company and the other company says y absolutely right we do it again and then they did it good and I asked the guys do we have to pay for this she goes no no what that's okay now I'll receive the bill why if I'm a the owner I'm desire if something happen I'm going to fix my stuff the town understand their desire to do whatever they want but a lot of people they complain out that I do not know if the people talk about because sometimes you going to go to say something but I do okay I want to straight out like I said I'm going to straight forward and that's what I have to say now it's up you guys what you want to do fair enough could you put him on your list to Joe anyone else wish to be heard sir could you remove your cap please good evening uh stepen orini 97 banford AV um I guess my concern is I'm new to the town closed on my property on January 2nd and I got this letter in the mail um don't recall any assessments coming through uh you know within the transaction and I reached out to the company and they don't have any record of this being pending or outstanding when they checked in on it that's because they never called the office they just did an online search so go back to your title company and say you should be responsible for going into the burrow finding this out and hold them accountable to get your money back okay um they should be covering this or your whoever you're and the the homeowner who you bought it from attests that there's nothing outstanding as well okay um I don't know if there's any money in escrow from your closing I I mean there probably is but I'd have to do some more research just cuz you know I I went through my my records and there was nothing there Michael am I right you did fine okay I play attorney at night that's okay um if they come back to me who would be the best person to reach out to I guess Mr pasal okay we'll do so you can contact you know where to find me appreciate it thank you anytime do anyone else wish to be heard okay seeing no one I uh entertain a motion at the public hearing on the 2021 Road program special assessments be closed that it be resolved that copies of said notice were made available to the public at the clerk's office have a motion so move so Move Motion by meing second by with techie discussion roll call Bennett yes Milly yes saso yes skara yes wki yes Matthews yes motion carries old business Joe do you have old business just one uh the fencing of trees around filters is that we're going to be doing or will there be trees to block yes the fening there's the whole Landscaping plan there's a full drawing of of they keep saying it's going to happen it's to happen it'll be done by this date done by this date way back now there's a full drawing of trees and also Shrubbery that's going to be put around every all four of the of the facilities where can I find this uh I'll give you a copy in my office after the meeting thank you that's it Michael no uh no I have nothing Bruce no sir Anna Marie just one asking for a status on our Diamond VAV friend uh you're talking about Mr spoilers property I don't have any update I did receive word from the municipal clerk today though that he did take out a permit for this townwide garage sale oh great well I just uh my my thought uh to you and my thought SL question is is there any possible way that we can ask for either a change of County or anything we can do to limit the litigious nature of that Resident to this is ongoing 25 years as we all know and it's uh frustrating to all the residents as much as it is to us so I'm just uh asking preemptively if there's any tool that we have uh as Administration to help cut this off at some point do we do everything that we can within legal bounds um there's no moving to another county is not going to change um bad neighbors are bad neighbors and making them good neighbors is sometimes an impossible task uh we can only keep fighting the good fight and we will I understand I thank you resident can move to a different County well I'm happy to facilitate that I'm okay any new business Dominic nope I'm okay new business and Mar um just um a resident had brought to my attention um the walkway from the library parking lot into that entrance which is probably the most Ed they were wondering if we could do something to uh beautify that it may be on the spring cleaning list um and I'm unaware of it they cleaned up the other day clean up the other day good job okay there that's e that's easy enough and then just following up on our cabalero sign I'm sure that's also on the spring list of things to do but I I'm following up Bruce no Mike uh yes the only thing uh I want to mention that we all received an email today saying uh the new that we are now eligible for early voting and it's going to be in the burrow so I just want to it's in my report and I wanted to say thank you m because I know you were leading the charge on that and it's something that we appreciate that's it nothing Jo just one item I did have for your for your knowledge I did have the chairman the chairperson and the uh assistant chairperson in my office from the shry commission we went over all the drawings uh they looked at it they said everything was fine and because we did add a lot more than what was on the original plans P fos yes thank you last keeping turn to Ministry of agenda presented by mayor lean thank you Mr President at this time uh I'd like to ask the council to approve the uh police appointment of uh Evan goov can I have a motion to approve Evan J goov as police officer for the B of horor for onee period uh motion by mey second by Bennett roll call wki yes skara yes Sasso yes mey yes Bennett yes Matthews yes motion carries you want to take pictures okay here over here you sit better right here that's where the camera is you want to want to come over here girlfri your mom hold the Bible okay okay camera is right there that's the TV Camera I state your name I Evan goov 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 truth faith and I will bear true faith and Allegiance 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 the state and in the state under the authority of the people under the authority of the people and I will perform the duties of and I will perform the duties of police officer police officer of the police department of the police department of the burrow of foror of the bur of foror faithfully Faithfully honestly honestly and justly justly to the best of my ability and to the best of my ability so help me gu so help congratulations [Applause] it's okay take your time go straight in you trying who's joking we have Band-Aids [Applause] thank you congratulations congratulations welcome aboard does he have to sign papers Lorry he already did you did he did uh the other night got start Monday yeah Mr President I have two appointments for the uh members of the Board of Health uh one person is here but I'd like to have the U motion for for both yeah we we'll probably do it one motion right Lori okay can I have a motion to appoint as a member of the board Health Susan guy and Laura macowski so second motion by with Tei second by SK all in favor I'm sorry it's a clerk roll roll call Bennett yes Mee yes Sasso yes skara yes wki yes Matthews yes motion carries my time to trickle out hi got to stand here cera's there I know camera's there left hand I state your name I Susan gu 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 the state of New Jersey and I will bear true faith and Allegiance and I will bear true faith and allegiance to the the same to the same and to the governments and to the governments established established in the united states in the United States and in the state and in the 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 hor Thorn Board of Health member of the foror Board of Health Faithfully faithfully and partially partially and justly and to the best of my ability so help me God thank you congratulations congratulations hey go shake their congratulations congratulations conratulations congratulations congratulations got a free night [Laughter] now Jar's to get out I have a proclamation uh for uh autism and I'd like uh Mrs ska and and Jared and Michael if you'd like to come down well thank you man on it's okay fine do you never drew Carrie okay whereas in 2007 United Nations General Assembly declared April second as World Autism Awareness Day with the goal of being World attention to autism the disorder that affects tens of millions and this year marks the 17th annual World Autism Awareness Day and whereas joined by the International Community hundreds of thousands of landmarks buildings homes and communities around the world come together on April 2nd Autism Awareness Day to light it up blue in recognition of people with Autism and those who love and support them and whereas autism is a complex neurological disorder that inhibits a person's ability to communicate and develop social relationships and is often accompanied by a behavioral change and whereas autism spectrum disorders are diagnosed in 1 to 30 6 children in New Jersey and one in 35 children nationally boys are diagnosed with autism 4.2 times more than the girls and whereas autism spectrum disorder prevalence in the United States has increased 32% since 2000 and whereas the Center for Disease Control and prevention have called autism a National Public Health crisis whose cause and cure remain unknown now therefore be it proclaimed that the mayor and Council of the burrow of hathorne do hereby Proclaim April April 2024 as National Autism Awareness Month I witness whereof I have unto set my hand and cause the Seal of the burrow of foror to affix this first day actually it was supposed to be their first day but we we uh of April 2024 signed by myself and the rest of the council thank you congratulations thank you thank [Applause] you congratulations Happy Birthday J happy birthday again princess yeah really come on back up so sure there's somebody else have talk for 26 minutes I'll be quiet thank you so much and happy birthday thank you he looks good for 65 56 goodbye everyone bye always entertaining that's for and now I have uh another uh Proclamation for the shade tree commission if Diane could you come up please how are you good to see you whereas J Sterling Morton a pioneer of from Detroit and a lover of nature settled in Nebraska territory in 1854 and whereas J Sterling Morton advocated tree planting and on January 4th 1872 proposed the Nebraska Board of Agriculture that a special day be set aside for planting of trees and whereas this holiday called Arbor Day was first observed on April 10th 1872 with the planting of more than a million trees in Nebraska whereas 2024 is the 152nd anniversary of Arbor Day which is now observed throughout the nation in the world and whereas trees can reduce the erosion of our precious top soils by wind and water cut Heating and Cooling cost moderate the temperature clean the air produce oxygen and provide habitat for wildlife and whereas trees and horor increase property values enhance the economic Vitality of business areas beautify our community and wherever they are planted trees are a source of joy and spiritual renewal whereas I quote Jay Sterling Morton each generation takes the Earth as trustees now therefore the mayor and Council of the burrow of foror do hereby Proclaim April 26 2024 as Arbor Day in the burrow of hathorne and we urge all citizens to plant trees to support efforts to protect our trees and woodlands and to support our community forestry program in witness to whereof we have set unto hand the Seal of the burrow of for Thorne this 17th day of October signed by myself and the full Council Diane on behalf of the chatry commission thank you for being a member and here's the proclamation [Applause] congratulations congratulations no trees is to cut down to Makey 100% recycled the United States Environmental Protection Agency Rec recently announced the new pfas regulations that set mcls lower than those already in effect from the state of New Jersey for three chemicals PFA pfos and pfna and also set similar mcls for three additional chemicals PF HS P I'm sorry h f f p da and pfbs multiple rounds of test results of water treated by hathor's new posos treatment system sampled in February and March now have nondetect results of all six of these chemicals in fact test results are also nondetect for another 36 related chemicals not yet included within the existing or proposed Reg ulations but with which could be regulated in the future as you recall last month when I heard about a massive loss of State schools funding that hathorne was faced with I made a call to governor murphrey and asked him for his assistance in restoring our school aid and followed up with him and his office afterwards he was very helpful and promised to look into this into this for us some school districts received more than they had had in the past but hathorne and many other districts were significantly impacted with a large loss of Aid our state legislators passed a bill in the assembly to possibly reinstate $589,000 of Co of of of the co cost of the 900,000 that was planned to be cut as our assembly stated this is a great first step and our legislators are also looking into how the school funding formula is calculated I want to thank Governor Murphy Senator Kristen karate and our assemblymen Al Bartlett and Chris the Phillips who work diligently to ensure that we receive some restitution for our state aid funding I continue to work with Congressman Pas grell's office in Washington regarding our postal post office and the postal deliveries problems that we are encountering locally and at the tibo Distribution Center this is an ongoing situ situation that is being worked on by our office with the Congressional research service yesterday in the washingtonpost.com commented that two years after Congress wiped more than $100 billion dollar off the US Postal Service books the mail service and its allies are quietly pressing for help again and they proposed from congressman pascarel ex account account the following I have been calling for the Postmaster General Lewis the joy to be removed for years after endless dejoy failures and Corruption the postal board should do the right thing he should he should be fired should have been fired in 2021 over the last year or so I had I had been approached numerous times by residents not wanting to go outside horor for early voting I made an application to the County Board of Elections for early voting in hathorne this was approved by the commissioners of the county of Pake Board of Elections and the library will be the designated polling location our clerk who was the election official for the burrow of hathorne will provide future details as we get closer to the primary and general election congratulations to all the cell Earth bration winners on I am directing you to our website and Facebook pages for the listing and the winners of their Pro of their projects this is the 32nd year and I want to thank chair chairperson Rena leosa and her entire commission for their hard work and the dedication in making this program a success I want to give give you an update on the lighting at Franklin Field the lights were tested last night and the field should be ready for use for the start of the JD baseball on May n on Monday night April 22nd to our seniors next Wednesday April 24th we will have two events happening the first is a mini carnival that St Joe's hospital and Medical Center will be having at the senior center at the ambulance Corps building please stop by and enjoy the fund between 9:00 a.m. and 100 p.m. later that day the annual hathorne seniors mayor Wellness dinner and show will be held doors to to the high school cafeteria will be opened at 4:30 dinner to be served at 5: and the show will begin at 6 if you haven't already rsvpd please call 973 427 4493 by Friday our townwide garage sale is scheduled for Saturday April 27th a listing of all the part participating locations will be available on Monday April 22nd at the municipal building and library and will it will also be posted that afternoon on our website and our Facebook page and will be and we will send out a nixel I want to remind everyone of a couple of things parking during business hours at the post office for anything other than Post Office business is not allowed I want in the past the post office has enforced this by Towing vehicles I just don't want I want you to to see I just don't want to see you get your car being towed also please be sure to cut your grass which seems to have grown overnight as code enforcement will be enforcing High Grass and I just don't want you to get a summons that's all I have and I'll turn it over to my attorney Michael Pasqua thank you mayor it's already been a very long meeting so I'll be very brief uh tax appeals are going to be heard at the county level at the end of this month Tim Henderson and I have already settled half of the Dozen appeals that we've had filed so uh there's a good chance that we'll resolve them all and if not we'll have small trials but by and large we do try to help uh work out settlements where they're appropriate and uh we've done so I owe you a few ordinances Michael we're going to need an ordinance committee meeting uh very soon I'm going to have uh we did draft a tree removal ordinance in accordance with the requirements to be honest with you there's a lot of policy decisions that go into this and rather than rush it onto an agenda without us really going through it uh would be unfortunate because we'd be living with something strictly because D changed their rules yet again D also is requiring storm water regulations be updated yet again the printing cost of all of these are ridiculous but we keep doing it uh you'll also be getting vacant and Abandoned and lead paint ordinances so we have quite a bit of work coming up in the uh next couple of weeks uh finally on your agenda tonight is the approval of the first wave of the Bandshell committee Billings we have uh approval of the artist bills for I think six of our acts and we are very much ready to have a Full Slate starting with Joe zesa and friends on the Sunday following Father's Day that mayor concludes my report thank you Michael and now turn it over to Joe burn our fero engineer thank you mayor uh starting off with the galvanized water service line replacement Phase 2 uh to date shocker Property Services has completed 265 test pits and determined approximately 149 Services need to be replaced there are a handful of test pits required for War burden but the police department has asked to wait until school is out before investigating those uh for phase three of the same project uh the submission to the njib uh for phase three was made on Monday April 15th uh the recreational field and facility upgrades uh Fox fence uh has finished welding extensions at the Franklin Field to get the 30-foot post um there was a field meeting today in which they went through the final punch list items on any of the outstanding items uh as discussed previously by uh mayor Lane uh for Franklin Field lighting uh the lights were activated and spillage was uh checked last night um and the uh the field should be ready for opening night April uh 22nd um the water department the uh P system um the as previously discussed by the May uh the revised Landscaping plans were prepared for all the sites um Pack 2 is currently providing or procuring the plantings and will'll provide a schedule for installation shortly um some uh minor items um pipe insulation at these sites is um almost complete uh the uh the bend insulation pieces came in so those are finishing installation um double wide uh fence gates uh for the South and North stations uh in relation to the 4 foot offset uh from the transform transformers uh will be done is scheduled to be done by the end of the week um and uh Hey topsil and seaing has taken place at these sites um and uh fencing at gole Hill Road is scheduled to take place on Thursday though with the rain it may happen on Friday uh the Hawthorne Kitty pool enhancements uh Premier Pool Renovations expects to start uh tomorrow April 18th on the work um the omnipods and the Associated Plumbing will be installed and the concrete pool deck and pool shell will be repaired as necessary to complete the work and Premier is aware of the bonding and grounding conditions that need to be maintained uh the Hawthorne downtown revitalization phase three uh was previously submitted to NJ doot and we're currently awaiting comments from the same uh the 2024 roadway Improvement program um is currently um being worked on by our offices um and plans plan specs and everything will be expected to go out to bid um within the next two to 3 months at the latest uh the 2024 resident assessments uh still the same as last time um it's currently ongoing and we're receiving calls and we're receiving calls and Communications from the residents and Property Owners associated with the 2024 roadway program uh the 2021 resident assessments um as we saw tonight were currently receiving calls from the residents and property owners and uh reviewing final invoices um before they're submitted uh Ray Avenue and goal road traffic study uh the report was prepared and provided to the mayor and some additional information has been requested and is currently being prepared uh the Franklin Field bleacher improvements um the plans and specifications are expect to be done by the end of the week Monday absolute latest um and they will be submitted to The Bureau for final review uh before they go out to bid uh psng uh 2023 improvements uh no schedule has been provided to this date um there're still going through the permitting stage and that concludes my report okay just one thing Joe uh give me an explanation why are we going to wait two or three more months for for plans when we did the ordinance early on and now we usually are out the bid already and awarding a contract at this point in time it's it's not just for the plans it's to have the plans inspects and get through NJ do it's to two two to three months three months being you know yeah but we didn't even see the plans yet our office didn't even see the plans to review them yet right so how can you how can what I'm saying is we'll be done with the NJ doot process a review of the plans and we'll be ready to go out to bid in approximately two months okay and also on the Franklin Field there's a lot more that has to be done than just a little bit here and there with with all the ruts that are there all the the grass uh the P the uh the sod um the test the test uh holes that they made uh they're already sinking uh both in in two different areas of the Outfield when they were supposed to to be drilling I'm sorry when they supposed to be digging and around the perimeter they dug through the center of the field and now that's sinking in already uh I don't know how the compaction was I don't know if Scott or somebody somebody from your office was out there to make sure that the compaction was done every every uh at least every two feet in depth because they were down good four feet uh you know we can't have this we going have kids playing in the field and we we don't need any ruts or we don't need any any place where they're going to off for a bid trip when they're looking at a Fly ball and the ground's not level all right well you mind so I didn't I was going to bring that up if I could just do you mind if I piggy back on that so I went today because I went last night thank you it was really great the lighting is fantastic there's no spillage for the most part it was really great but I rolled the ball and I recommend if you roll the ball like a soccer ball it's all over the place the mayor is 100% right it really is not a level field anymore the uh the electric the one of the owners from the electrical company was there and he said he's going to bring a heavy duty roller well I I don't know what the what the way a lot of the ruts are that dirt is now basically settled and hard uh I don't know how he's going to roll it to make it level um but I'm going to tell you now it he better I told him he better be done by Saturday uh because we're playing uh on Monday it's already been advertised and it's I already told the um the JD baseball that you know first game is mon that that was their normal first that was their day to start the season so whatever you have to do with Scott with with uh with that with the electrician please get on it because otherwise we're going to have a problem willto okay I now turn it over to my uh administrator Mr Eric Mau thank you mayor um on your agenda tonight um resolution R 7424 deals with a fairly unique situation uh the project has a signif the property has a significant balance on the water account but since it's located in wof we don't have the option of selling a tax lean to collect what's owed our other collection option would be to Simply shut the water off something we were not able to to do during CO as a leak inside the house drove up uh the balance um via the agreement authorized by this resolution the owner agrees to let us to let us place a lean on the property in return for a payment plan giving time to pay off the balance um should the payment plan not be adhered to we could still shut the water off but we would then have a lean to collect the balance much as we would with the tax Lane for a property located within Hawthorne um negot NE iations with the dispatchers Union have taken an interesting turn uh a petition was filed by union members to the New Jersey public employee relations commission seeking to desertify representation of the group by the teamsters perkus holding an election by secret ballot with votes scheduled to be counted on May 22nd if aert if the desertification fails then negotiations with the Union would resume in late May or early June if it succeeds the administration will recommend salary rates for these employees to the council for inclusion in an amended salary ordinance uh the buau will remain on the sidelines as this plays out that's really the union members and and making their decision of whether they stay in the union um speaking of unique situations in my uh 40 some years in this business this is the first time I've ever had a union um union members uh seek to certify a union so it's something new happens all the time and finally uh the New Jersey Recreation Improvement Grant application for funds for new wag two and three bleachers was submitted by yesterday's deadline as you may recall we also um submitted a County open space Grant application for the same project should we receive both grants minimal local money would be needed to complete the project and that concludes my report thank you than you Eric Joe just one other question can you find out for me tomorrow and get me an answer with regard to the uh the bleachers and and that work that's going to be done at the Franklin Field also because we we want to go out for bid as soon as we can with that right we'll do thank you Mr President we'll turn it over to the council any questions from the council any questions from the council I'm GNA and I'm okay Ro Mike nope just one Jo just one it's a simple one what is the plan for lower Franklin CU that's it doesn't even look like a well what we did while we were having the construction done uh that field was used by several other different uh Sports uh teams uh as far as the plan is concerned uh it was all the grass was taken off so that they could use it a little bit that was actually going to be used for I guess the peee lead for the little kids so it's going to be returned to cuz last year the grass grew up on it we had the right it just turned to disrepair because it's so small yeah you know you hit a home run it's in the pool so that's that's why it actually it's it's one of the peee leagues that we have for the little kids all right so we're going to we're going to revitalize it then that's it anyone else okay Kevin motion to record the administrative agenda moved motion by Bennett second by skara all in favor motion carries introduction of ordinance say we have ordinance 23 42-24 an ordinance to fix the 2024 salaries wages and compensation of the employees of the bur of foror County of Pake and state of New Jersey we resolve this ordinance is 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 Lafayette Avenue horor New Jersey on May 1st 2024 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 order to the record once at least one week prior to said hearing with the notice of its introduction time and place when and where said ordinance will be considered for final passage have a motion some Move Motion by Bennett Sasso second second by Sasso any discussion roll call Bennett yes mey yes Sasso yes skara yes what Tei I have a question can I abstain from the fire department portion and yes on all others or just vote Yes salary and wages salary and wages there is uh no compensation there loap is awarded afterwards right clothing alls yeah then you have to abstain I'll be abstaining this is just a rate I know I don't want I'm navigating I'm not making any mistakes okay I know you're try Frank but uh he's he's staying with us okay so so you has to abstain from the whole thing yeah you really can't pick and choose on an ordinance you really can't pick and choose if there's enough votes it's okay that I abstain yeah okay so you're abstaining correct thank you and Matthews for reasons of the fire department I want to make that clear very good resol motion carries off consent R 6724 is emergency temporary budget have a motion Move Motion by second by skier any discussion roll call wki yes skara yes Sasso yes mey yes Bennett yes Matthews yes motion Carri consent agenda R 68-4 through r74 d24 is lo r68 d24 is loap for eligible ambulance Corps members r69 d24 is refund of special assessment charges R 70-24 state tax appeal R71 -24 is Boswell Engineering Services for the 2024 Road program R 7224 is Boswell Engineering Services for the 2024 Road program NJ do local Aid R 7324 is 2024 Bandshell artists and r74 d24 is authorized for Barett agreement for water rents Kev a motion motion by m second by Sasso any discussion on any of the consent that's a good thing this isn't for the 2021 one road program I don't know somebody dropped the ball there uh roll call Benet yes mey Sasso yes skara yes wki yes Matthews yes motion carries reports to special Council committees Joe start your way I just have one announcement please mark your calendar the Hawthorne rabies clinic will be May 14th I've already had my sh he means it's just temper shot yeah that's it Mike uh yes the uh Board of Education held a monthly meeting last night and several several items were discussed uh there is a new playground that was opened at Roosevelt School that was donated by the PTO um the haon CPAC will have their cover Color Run on May 5th um they also mentioned that the last referendum project which is aestus removal will take place in July the school and extended year classes will not be in session and the school will be empty for the entire month um this is something that the mayor mentioned but I'll again uh report on it since it was at the board of ed meeting on Monday April 15th the State Assembly passed a bill that will allow a one-year moratorium Grant to school districts that were affected by the cut in state aid providing 34 of the money that was cut the bill will now move to the Senate and will be up for vote in May since the majority of the assembly passed the bill the feeling is optimistic and will pass in the Senate the additional um there was additional discussions on reform of the state funding formula uh several Bo board members did acknowledge assemblyman Al ballis assemblyman Christa Phillips and Senator Kristen Cado for their support and championing the school districts at the state level and this concludes my report I watched that assembly hearing on TV and the state Commissioner of Education could not give an answer as to why the formula why it was cut he ducked and dodged and I think he said well admission went down by 20 people and even Senator or assembly bar said so you cut 18% of their raid no well there's a lot of other factors but that's four one was has I think eight less eight eight less students 20 was given during the hearing but either way um there's no logic to it and even this approach is a Band-Aid approach because we should be happy we got three quarters back why why not give us the right amount it's still not back yet well that's my point it's a oneyear grant as a moratorium that will not go against the tax levy um but the idea from what I'm hearing is that is let's put the Band-Aid on this now we're not going to give you everything we're going to give you what we can or what they're willing to do and hopefully correct the funding formula for future because otherwise it's going to be a mess again next year mik I hear you but it uh it's just a big snowjob well I'm on your side on this I mean I'm not I'm just reporting on on what we said s baras said why don't you just do the fix now right instead of just giving them back three quarters of their aid and saying I'll be happy right Mone coming from it's a grant where's the money coming from they have the state is providing another 71.4 million in money yeah it's still still the same tax money I mean it it doesn't make any sense it's still it's it's just in a different form Bruce uh yes as uh Council liais on to the board of recreation a big congratulations to Hawthorne senior and junior roller hockey teams who both won League championships this year yay re I'm up so uh uh piggybacking on councilman Shara the uh CPAC Color Run on Sunday May 5th the library Friends of the horth library will be sponsoring a water table so if you are running and thirsty go get your water um also the friends of the library are having a spring craft fair at the library um on oh she doesn't give me the date I don't know it's happening check check the calendar but there are still some tables if you are a crafter to put your product there but also I encourage everybody to go and attend the event and their big event in May is the chocolate making night that you get to go and U make some chocolate eat some ice cream and these are all very small fees to pay and go and enjoy yourself next week there is a a class Tuesday night I believe for computer there's also a dungeon and Dragons class so as I always mention every meeting there's something for everyone that concludes my announcements Dominic how you beat um flower arranging no no no no um also on the 24th it's called the mayor's dinner but it m originally was the Miss bance and we have right Lori we have we have a goodie bag we're giving out and uh just for the record um they're talking dinner at fiveish if the mayor would keep his speech down we would be eating at five you know look at the look look at the look he's G look at the look he's giv me just saw a laser come right through you will have it it'll be as long as that uh one speaker we had tonight I have no reports then correspondence we have C1 we have a new firefighter application from Christina Damon to company 4 a motion second motion by Bennett second by skiier any discussion roll Calli abstain skara yes Sasso yes mey yes Bennett yes Matthews yes motion carries have a motion to approve the bills and forward them to the treasurer for payment motion by skir second second by mey any discussion on any bills roll call Bennett yes mey yes Sasso yes skiar abstain Ridgewood press yes on all others wki abstain on fire department yes on all others Matthews yes thank you motion carries public comment now open the meeting to the public anyone desires to be heard come forward to the microphone St your name seeing no one I entertain a motion to close the public portion of the meeting motion by skara second by Bennett all favor motion carries the next council meeting is Wednesday May 1st 2024 have a motion to adjourn some moved motion by skira second by Sasso all in favor I motion carries we adjourned e