Check. One, two. Oh, they were on. >> I'm sorry. >> That was a delay. tonight's council meeting to order. Roll call. >> Bennett >> here. >> Leosa here. Millie >> here.
>> Sasso here. Skiara >> here. >> Waki. >> Matthews >> here. Please rise and join us in the pledge of allegiance. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> 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 posted at the official burough website and emailed to
the Herald news the record the gazette and all persons who've requested the mailing of such since November 17 2025 have approval of the minutes for the special meeting of December 22nd and the regular meeting of January 7th of this year so moved
>> second motion by Sierra second by Leosa any discussion Roll call. >> Skiara, >> yes. >> Sasso, yes. Mey, >> yes. Leosa, >> yes. >> Bennett, >> yes. >> Matthews, >> yes. >> Motion carries. >> Public comment and I open the meeting to
the public. Anyone desires to be heard, come forward to the microphone on agenda items. State your name. >> Yeah. Uh Jack Lore 319 Van Winkle, I wanted to say a word, maybe ask a question about
the uh offconsent R2326 budget transfers. Um, I see that we're taking money out of the emergency management
line for 11,000 plus and we're taking money out of streets and roads for 7,000 plus. And I'm just concerned because street uh repairs and safety and especially emergency management are concerns for me. Uh there's not much
detail in this proposal. Uh so I guess the question is are you certain that we don't need that money for emergency management? Have you consulted with that body? >> The way it works before your budget's formally adopted, you have a temporary budget and you if whatever shortfall you
think you may have when we adopt our budget in April or April, yeah, um anything that you have will be fulfilled in that year's budget. This is leftover from the previous. So to fund the
government before you have an adopted budget, it's basically a temporary budget. >> Okay. So this isn't going to cost no >> emergency management. >> No. >> Okay. Well, thank you for that. I was just concerned. >> Yep. >> Anyone else wish to be heard on agenda items?
Seeing no one, I uh entertain a motion to close the public portion meeting. >> Motion by Millie, second by Skier. All in favor? >> I. Motion carries. Adoption of ordinances. We have none this evening. New business. Mike, we'll start your way.
>> Not tonight. >> Reena, >> nothing. >> Bruce, >> no, sir. >> Nothing tonight, sir. >> Dominic, no. Old business. Dominic, uh, I don't know if it's old business or not, but mayor, do we have an an ordinance or something when we have snow
emergency like we're talking this weekend where we have to get cars off the road? Is that possible? We have something that we enacted in zones like you know Kin area has over 2 in. I was looking for I couldn't remember the board of snow >> because we're expecting a lot of snow
this weekend. >> Yeah. >> Correct. >> So we have to get the cars off the road. They got to put them in driveways. I mean there's driveways. >> Well we we'll look it up tomorrow and see what the uh how we can do it and we'll put a we'll put an axle out
>> cuz our guys do a great job plowing but we have to go down the middle of the road and that's it. >> I agree. We can't get emergency vehicles down there. We have a problem. >> Uh Councilman Scar and I spoke about this the other day. >> Okay. >> Uh about this exactly this subject and you know we we are looking into it.
>> Okay. Thank you. >> Yeah. There's not a specific ordinance. We had something where we had a snow um plan like I know the areas where you you can't get a fire truck through when you have it on both steel sides where you had to >> get off of the
Hin area. >> There were certain streets >> each had a number of streets that we implemented into our snow plan, >> right? But we never adopted any form of an ordinance. What we rely on right now is just police declaration of emergency.
We talked about alternate side parking. There are some areas where we did put signs up that say when snow is greater than 2 in or something, you can't park there. So, there are some parking regulations. They're limited.
>> Well, that was what we're talking I was talking to Mike, you know, for the area that you were talking about that would perfect area to add that street to >> Exactly. >> whatever ordinance that is. >> Yeah. So, there's there's a limited number of streets that are on that. We did talk I remember Gary used to always
be a proponent of alternate side parking and everybody thought that it's difficult to train your um clientele let's say to follow that kind of rule. Um so you know we'll look at it at ordinance committee because there's no easy answer.
>> I I think it's worthwhile to uh evaluate this a little more in detail. uh snow at least snow covered, not even put amount of inches because the plow's still got to go down the street or either they're putting brine down or they're putting salt or whatever the case may be. So,
um, if we could identify specific streets, maybe you could talk to Bill Hfner and, uh, ask him what streets are more difficult for, uh, the vehicle our, uh, snowplow trucks to get down and we could identify them and look to build an audience around those areas and and we
got need we got to back that up with some signage also. >> Right. The other side of that coin, uh, Councilman, is we've run into the problem. There are certain parts of town where there's just not enough off- streetet parking, right? So, you know, the question becomes all well and good
when you say everybody has to be off this street and then they say, "Well, where would you like us to go?" And that balance is where we we run into a problem every time. There's some streets, I mean, you can go into certain uh streets in, let's say, Ward One,
there are cars on both sides of the street all day, every day. Um, so it's hard to deal with that aspect, too. We designated pretty much all each ward and we got the word one. It was like now what? >> Ward one presented a great challenge
because there are narrow streets and fire department has said to us we have a hard time getting down some of these streets with snow and whatever the other side is. There's not enough driveway parking or off streetet parking to accommodate the cars. So, you know,
there are times that we've asked Washington school um to open its parking lot to residents, which we've done, and we might do this weekend if the snow is going to be what we think it is. >> I'll talk to the superintendent tomorrow.
>> Roosevelt Lincoln school, too. >> I seem to remember where we do sometimes get Nixel alerts and you're right, Michael, obviously, that there even are some properties that don't even have a driveway. So Roosevelt has been used in the past and uh Washington and just
we're talking a day and there's no school. So I'm sure we can work hard work together to accommodate. Um sending a NIXL like our uh I I assume it's the police department is always so helpful to remind everybody, hey, snow's coming. Even if you as a tenant don't have off-
streetet parking as part of your lease, I can't imagine that for one night you can't, you know, the if it's owner occupied or the other tenant has particular use of that driveway for one night, they can't work together just to allow the plows to come
through efficiently because that's really what we're looking to do. So, um, we have a lot of wheels in motion. I'm sure we can button it up. >> Yeah. Uh I just just to piggy back a little bit more. Um uh we're not trying to create a hardship for the residents. No, >> we're just trying to create a safe uh
environment for emergency vehicles and the plow trucks uh to maneuver down. >> Well, it also helps the residents if the plow truck can go curb to curb, >> right? >> I think we got we got to look at that as a secondary. Ideally, >> I mean, just in some >> all your cars get off the road and we
can plow it and then go back up, right? that would be ideal, but it's not going to move. And we also talked about the mayor and I had a conversation about utilizing any uh any burrow property. Um and one of the things came up was the pool parking lot, which is all well and good, but we don't want people to abuse
that. Um because that is something that, you know, is uh Councilman WKI had said a few times that, you know, he feels that people are parking there, they shouldn't. So, we actually talked about giving them uh some type of uh a pass for, you know, uh snow removal days that
they can park in something in a burough property lot like that. Just ideas that were floating around trying to address the issue. That's all. >> Right. >> But we also put snow in a parking lot, too. Remember, we were cleaning. >> That's true. >> Yeah. When we clean the the center on Lafayette Avenue and the center of town, we dump it down there.
>> You're right. >> Thank you, Marie. One old business item. We've talked previously about um speeding on Washington A. I would say it's specifically from the Diamond Bridge towards Washington Street section. And I
know that um the speed sign was up previously. Is there mayor just verify for me one of those permanent light uh fixtures that calibrate your tell you how fast you're going both ways? I seem to know it going towards the train station, but is it going back and forth?
Yeah, I think it's only going one way. >> Okay. It's still an issue, I'm being told, from the residents in that area. So, if you would help out and uh >> I'll talk to the um or we'll talk to the uh traffic bureau. See when the last time they did the uh with the sandwich
board signs out there. >> Okay. >> And also, they have a new a new one now that uh they they put on a pole or they put on a on a on a uh a tree and uh you don't even know it's there. And they they take the um the speed and actually
uh >> the >> you get a gift in the mail. >> It's a what? >> You get a gift in the mail? >> Yeah. >> That's a deterrent. I don't want one, but it is a deterrent. Thank you, sir. >> Bruce,
>> not tonight. Mike. >> Uh yeah, I want to piggy back a little bit more on this uh snow uh concern was since we're going to be hit with a lot of snow this weekend. Um some of the some of the residents might have saw um that a public service announcement was
put out um recently. Uh myself, uh Councilwoman Leoso and Councilman Matthews had uh put some uh winter weather advisories out um letting people know uh just a reminder, a friendly
reminder that um to clean your sidewalks. It it it starts 8. You have to have it clean 8 hours uh after the last last snowfall. Uh please be cognizant if you work if you live on a corner property to clean the the
crosswalks. Um also if you live near a fire hydrant, uh please, you know, help out emergency uh uh first responders by clearing out those especially now we're going to get a lot of snow. So it would be very very helpful. Um just just different things that we mentioned. Uh,
you know, if you have a car, make sure you you take all the snow off your car because the worst thing in the world is when you're driving, you you get hit with a bunch of snow and then you get into an accident. That guy's bowed on or I shouldn't say a guy. Could be could have been anybody actually. But I think everybody knows where I'm headed with
this. Did I I I know we mentioned a lot of different things, but I think we could. So, if you get a chance, it's on the burrow uh it's on the borrow page, the community page, a lot of our personal pages. So, take a look if you haven't seen it already. at least uh um I just want to make another announcement
too, especially since we're getting a lot of snow. >> Mhm. >> Thank you. >> And I have no business old or new. >> So, we'll turn to Mayor Administrative agenda. Mayor, I think you have a presentation coming up.
>> No, I think we're going to pass on that tonight. >> We have a sustainable New Jersey certification. Councilwoman Leosa will be uh explaining and going through a presentation. >> Councilwoman,
you're first. >> Okay, I'll go first. I want to bring I want to begin by thanking the DPW director, Bill Heler, and the DPW for a great job they do every day, especially snow plowing and salting during the last
week's snow event. I know I said this before, a snow event, but please give consideration to removing your vehicle from the street. If possible, park it in your driveway. This will allow our DPW to plow curb to
curb and clean the streets of snow. Also, while I do understand the frustration of moving snow from your driveway aprons a couple of times during the snowstorm, I am asking if you please do not throw snow back into the street after the plow
is left. The streets become covered again with snow and ice and it creates a hazard. We are having another snow event this weekend and I would really appreciate it if you would be mindful. Please remove your vehicle from the street and hold
off on throwing the snow into the street. About six about six to eight months ago, I received a call from Congresswoman Nelly Poe inquiring whether we had any significant significant capital projects
planned for the near future as potential federal funding opportunities were becoming available. At that time, I consulted with Eric, our burough administrator, and it was determined that we would likely need to undertake repairs on our Lincoln Avenue sewer
line, as well as making potentially significant improvements to our sewer pump station on Wagawa Road. Based on these anticipated needs, I requested $2 million in federal funding. Congresswoman Poe thanked me for the
information and advised me that we would she would submit our projects for consideration. About 3 months ago, she had called me to inform me that she had reco she was required to reduce her list of
municipalities in her in her district to seeking funding that Horththornne remained on her list of municipalities for consideration. On January 9th, Congresswoman Pascal, I'm sorry, Congresswoman Pro contacted me to advise
me that the Congressional Appropriations Committee approved 1.92,000 90 1,992,000 in funding for the burrow to address our infrastructure needs. I express my sincere appreciation for her efforts and
for her continued advocacy for our be on our behalf. To my knowledge, the burrow has not previously received any federal funding of this magnitude. This measure has passed the Congress and Senate Senate approval is still pending. She
does not anticipate any any issues with the Senate vote. There is no definitive timeline for the receipt of funds, but Hawthorne remains on the list for a potential funding award. I want to give give you an update on Gal
Road development. It came to my attention that the construction site on Goffel Road taking the privilege of making a new driveway going into the site by taking down a portion of the existing wall. They decided to make the new entrance for the trucks to enter the
site. This wall was taken down without any without obtaining any permits to remove the wall and that was in violation of the developer agreement. The construction official and the police went up to stop the job until such times as the proper permits were issued and
the fines were paid. There was a meeting at Barl Hall and and at that meeting they paid the fines and the permit was was secured for the knocking of the wall down that portion of it. There were also
they were also told that there would be a job meeting every Friday going forward and they agreed and the stop order was lifted on January 16th. On Sunday, January 31st, we are holding our senior resident movie and dessert afternoon.
The the movie would be Butch Cassidy in the Sundance Kid will be shown at the Horththornne Theater at 1:00 p.m. followed by coffee, tea, dessert uh at the Celtic Corner. If you would like to attend, please call my executive assistant, Ellen, at 973-4271168.
I hope you can all join us for this for this movie. And now I will turn it over to our sustainable Jersey person, Marina Leos. Councilwoman Leosa. move it.
Move it. You want the photo moved, >> please. Oh, I don't want to. Thank you. Okay. Good evening. Um really excited tonight to talk about the sustainable jersey
program. We were um recognized last year. We're for the fifth time as sustainable Jersey silver. So I'm just going to run through um the program. There's a couple of themes that I really want to keep pointing out that this is a
team partnership and connections and really connecting all the work that the barrel of does. um with all our partners and all our departments and this is all hands on deck and we get to do this every three
years because I don't want to do this every year. Um so the overview, the projects and we'll talk about 2026. So what is sustainability? It's the three rings, society, environment, and
economy. And when you put them all together, you have a sustainable state. And I'm going to be talking about all the efforts that we have done for all those three rungs, society, environment, and economy. So, we have a vision. It's about committing to protecting our natural
resources while meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising those of future generations. We're protecting our open spaces, conserving our natural resources, really promoting environmental education, energy efficiency to our residents and business
alike. considering environmental, economic, and social impacts to future development and overall improving their community health and quality of life for every citizen. So that's really the overarching vision that we've put together um for Vince. We started the
green team in 2009. So what is the certification do? So, since 2011, we have brought in $35,800 and two years ago, we got a $1,000 grant from um City Green to expand our
community gr uh garden. So, we really have raised a lot of money putting together the grants applications, getting awarded, doing the reports. It's a lot of work, but it's well worth it uh for the town. gain access to training and tools really promoting our talent
but really creating a better future for everyone. So the program is two levels bronze and silver. Going to focus on silver cuz that's the level that we have been on since 2010. You have to do three out of the 13 priority actions in eight out of
the 17 sustainable categories. and a municipality has made significant progress in a number of categories for sustainability is a statewide and national leader. So where happened what we did was 440 points. We did four out of 15 priority
actions in 13 out of 17 sustainable categories and we are approved for 34 actions that we put together. I put the link um in the PowerPoint presentation. That link will take you to all the work in the backup to all those points. It is
publicly available just like every single town who is certified. Everything is publicly available. So you have the ability to look what other towns have done. So let's start with the first one, the economy. And these are the action plans.
partnership is with the farmers market and making farmers market access accessible with the Hawthorne Chamber of Commerce. The community garden as I said in 2024 we expanded from 18 to 24 and um
we donated produce to our food pantry 31 lb but we've been doing that since 2016 and proud to say that we've donated over 358 lbs to the Hawthorne food pantry. And lastly, one of the big things is the community food pantry. Not just Horth,
but our local churches, St. Anony's, St. Clemens, Martha's Pantry. Um that is all on our burrow's website. We updated um we did this three years ago. We're continue promoting not just ours, but also our churches,
local economies. This is about the bill campaigns, and this is the partnership with the Horththornne Chamber of Commerce. We've been working with them since 2012 on different various uh programs for our residents and for our businesses. Um the first one is the
Hawthorne Bay. We find that in the month of July we had over 32 businesses last year. Restaurant week the chamber handles and the spring fling and the holiday program that we have done with posters and promote people to support
local businesses during the holiday season. And our slogan is shop smart, shop local, and shop forthorn first. Really, it's about giving back to our uh community and really being there for our businesses.
Support local businesses. This is another um action item. This is about the neighborhood preservation program and it's established partnership between the burrow local businesses with the environmental commissioner the green
team the NPP stakeholder committee the council lison on with the chamber of commerce the grand openings all the work that we do to promote bring businesses to Horththornne it's really geared towards around the neighborhood preservation program strives to improve and increase the
support and events that we offer to our businesses is. So, it's just another layer of work um that we do that you can get points for operation and maintenance. This is the green grounds and maintenance policy. And you see that it's underlined. Um
this is one of the uh priority actions. This is the one that we've been doing since I can't even tell you probably since 2010. And we have a resolution. We pledge best management practices environmental sound and efficient way um maintain out of our own properties and
then the separate um action item is the recycled materials and composting that we promote that we have compost material at the recycling center. This one we have to repledge every 3 years because they want to make sure we're actually communicating letting people know. So we have to keep doing it through um the
council and re pledging that resolution. Now the environmental piece. Um, one of the ones that we did is brownfields and this is the inventory and prioritization that we put together. We review every 3 years and we communicate to the planning and the zoning. These are former or
current commercial or industrial site that's currently vacant or underutilized. That information shared uh in the assessment and investing investigation of the former 55 Shrew Avenue. A lot of these action plans um
there are look back time periods most mostly are um 18 months a year before or current. Um but these um the assessment investigation that is a little bit longer because people are doing site investigations, rumal investigations. So
we have more time. Those points are going to be expiring um I believe the end of last year for the assessments. So we constantly lose points. So we always have to gain more points. Sustainable land use pledge. This is
another one that we did um that was the priority action. Um it's our pledge to sustainable um development and uh economics here. It is part of our master plan. Um but according to the action
plan, we have to do a resolution every time. They just won't take it that we put it in our master plan. the environmental resource inventory um updated and incorporating into the Hawthorne master plan. Um we constantly keep keeping that up to date. That's
every 10 years. And the Hawthorne Environmental Commission um all the work that we do we can get points for. Now this is my Hawthorne Shade Tree Commission. Remember I told you it's about partnership, a lot of work. We work with the shade tree. We have a tree
protection ordinance. Um, we have a community forestry management plan accreditation. Um, I know the shade tree commission was working on that. Yes. Uh, last year. Hopefully they were able to put that together. Um, the tree maintenance and the tree planting that
we do. Now, there is a category called innovative community project. Now, here's the thing. We have files every 3 years for a project like this, and we do get the points, but it's a one-time shot. you can't repeat again. So, this
is always something a project that went above and beyond all the action plans that are identified for sustainable Jersey. And I'm so proud to uh recognize our Girl Scout silver project down at the 8 Acre Woods. We created um a butterfly garden, a stone pathway
through the garden. And my favorite is I really wanted to put a little library down there. So, that was done. Um we sponsored that the commission with that silver project and um Zoe did a phenomenal job and she was recognized by
the um Bergen County Odivon Society as a habitat for him and uh habitat for um native plants and for um the butterflies. She did a great job. Um we were able to get credit for that waste management. You'll see underline
prescription drug safety and disposal. That is our permanent uh box that we have that we collect drugs from um residents prescriptions. You don't know what to do. As long as they're solid, please bring them to the box and we properly dispose of them. And that's a priority action. The second one is about
recycling and waste reduction education and compliance. We do a tremendous amount of work with our recycling and getting the word out. We did a green lecture every year on recycling from our recycling coordinator Moren. All the work that we do in the recycling, the
paper shredding day and the Hawthorne recycling center and the household hazardous waste. We have car batteries and consumer electronics that we recycle at the recycling center. Waste management. Now, this is a big one. This is the non-mandated. And what
does that mean? Every county has mandated recycling materials that you have to do as part of their solid waste plan. These are items that are not on that list. These are non-mandated. I have to say Horththornne goes above and beyond every time. We always have we
have the best recycling center. We do a tremendous amount of material that we recycle. And so we got pranks um for the non-ferris metal. all the DVDs, CDs, videotapes, you can bring them down to the recycling center or the um burl
hall, oil contaminated soil, um food waste, which is the cooking oil. And those numbers are coming from the businesses that are recycling that. So, they're not coming directly to the recycling center, but this is all coming off of our annual tonnage report. And
it's due um April 31st. And because of our numbers, if we can get high, then we get money from the um state. And so we've been really successful of getting quite a bit of money from that recycling trust. And the last is the polystyrene.
We have a permanent container that we launched May of 2024. Really proud of that. We don't do have to do the collections and get yelled at that we don't have enough room for the polystyrene. Um, so now it's a permanent uh container where we take it and we go
to Clifton and they um make it into um the frames. Um they tandle that. So we just bring the material. Um the DPW do an unbelievable job with the recycling. Um they do bring the material to the
facilities. The one item that is not on there because it was not on the annual report is the plastic film that we launched last May of 2025. So we are collecting all the plastic film um in Horththorn. So that will be on 2025
report next year. So this is the people this is about people contributing to the strong society. one is a mandatory. You have to have a green team. The green team is a subcommittee of the environmental commission.
Um we all work together. We do community education and outreach. That's really the core of the commission. This is about education, protecting and preserving our environment. We've come up with some green lectures. Matt Hugma, who is also a police officer, he did his
presentation on his beekeeper and making honey and haworth. We have spring and fall bird walks. and we put in for the annual June environmental program about recognizing our students, teachers, citizens and a green business um that
we've done and we have to fight for all these points. So like they really nick and dime you for all the documentation and proving that um you are doing something. The community um partnership again is
the green fair that we partner with the Horn Chamber with the farmers market emergency management working with our OEM about our emergency communication planning. Mayor, this is yours. This is the mayor's wellness program. We've got the
maximum price uh points for this. This is about youth, seniors, employees, and community. And as you can see, this is a tremendous amount of work of all these departments and all these organizations. Um, you do an annual pledge every year.
It's the school system, it's the library, it's the border wreck, it's the board of health, the police, stigmafree, Horthor municipal alliance. All this information is funneled to me. I put together with the checklist. All the backup to the documentation needs to be
in a package. we upload it and we got 25 points for that. So that's a big one. I don't want to lose that one. And um we have an anti idling education enforcement. We have 62 signs. Last
year, um, we put together a letter joint with the Hawthorne police, the school system, and the green team, the educator of Horththornne school, parents and education and students about antiing around the schools. We have the science there really are promoting not
to anti- idle, no more than 3 minutes. I know it's cold or it's in the summer, it's hot, but um there are really some benefits of not idling. So, we put that out. It's just as a proactive measure to get the word out and because we do have
residents around the schools that um are upset about it. Um this is a new one, safe routes to school program. This is the Hawthorne Police. They do an education focusing on walking and bicycling to school safer. This is out of the New Jersey safe routes to school.
Horththornne is recognized as a silver. So, I worked with the police department. We got all the information and we're able to secure those points. Public information. This is about the municipal communication strategy and digitalizing the public information.
This is the website. This is all the information that we have out for our residents. We put this together. These two uh the look back is only 6 months cuz they really want to make sure that you're updating the information on your website. And so, you know, this is a
team effort from the burrow. We put this together. Um, we got those, we secured those points. I wanted everything in in the old system, not the new website because if we would have gotten caught, we would have had to resubmit all the
documentation with the new website. So, there's a method to the madness. Um, poor Lisa. I have stuff up there from 2024 because all last year when you as you're submitting all this and you're doing the documentation for your website, they actually do check the
website. So my information for 2024 is still up there which will come down only after our certification. So um we'll take care of that. The community asset um mapping this is the green map. Um this is all about our
natural resources. This is the historic schools, open spaces, the great map. We put the neighborhood preservation on it. Um the map is hanging out in the hall. Vince, um we donated them all to the school systems as an education piece.
There's a QR code. It's an online mapping. You can interactive to learn about all the different places in Horum. So where are we? We won 440 points. Um, Marilyn and U. Margolane went with us to the lunchon. We, uh, this is the picture
that was up there from the burrow. I had to send some pictures to them, um, so they could put together the PowerPoint presentation. So, I really want to thank my environmental commissions because I'm it's just not me. I've got a team behind
me, which is awesome. And I just want to recognize Mary Mayan who's in the audience as my vice chair. And I also have Holly Cohen is also here. Um Moren Cook is been a a wonderful asset to us. Um Lisa Devo, I just want to recognize
her. She was a former commissioner who did tremendous work for us. Pat McDonald, Mike Mariani, Rob Meyer who's also my lison with the planning board and Charles Steins. and my green team. I want to recognize
John and Judy Boloper, um Craig Otano, Rita Panella, Alexandra Satra, Mike and Janet Turo, and Jacob Vanderpile, who was my intern last year who helped me put together the documents for sustainable Jersey last year. So, I just
want to give a shout out to him. Um he was a college student. He would needed some some experience. Um, so it was a great asset because I'm always looking for volunteers to help us. And that's our picture. So, mayor, let
me hand you the plaque. That's for you. >> Thank Thank you. >> So, it's it's in good hands now. >> Yes. >> We'll see you in three years. >> Go for gold. >> Oh, I'm waiting for you.
So, let's talk about 2026. >> There is no gold. That's the problem. >> No, there is a gold. >> Uh, we talked to them. They told us. >> Well, next year we're on No, this year 2026, they're on a pause, but yeah, I really wanted to go for gold, but there
are some action plans that have to be worked on. So, let's talk about 2026. Um, announcing the 34 34 years seller April 18th. The annual June environmental program is June 8th. We're going to be doing native plant education. Of course, we're going to do
the biloal campaign with the chamber, promoting our businesses. And lastly is help the Hawthorne B defeat litter. And that is another joint with the Hawthorne Rotary Club, the Burough Hawthorne, the environmental commission, and the green team. We go out and we do um cleanups
townwide. Um so that's our um the little bee has um a poker in a bag. So, um, the B is our, uh, mascot and it's our branding that we use for Hawthorne Environmental Commission.
But lastly is really thank you all for your support and dedication to Hawthorne Sustainable Jersey Certification. Uh, tremendous amount of work goes into this, but I couldn't do this alone. There's a team effort, the burrow, the partnership we have with a lot of the
organizations. Um, I just want to thank you and I will see you in 3 years when we file again. Thank you. >> Thank you, Reena. Get a closeup. Show it. Come on.
So, we're displaying the certificate if you would pan on to the mayor. >> We'll get a picture. >> There we go. >> That looks good. I haven't scaff
Mayor look here. >> All right. Great. Thank you. We'll now hear our report from our attorney, Michael Pasqual. Thank you, mayor. Congratulations, Raina, to the green team, to the uh everybody who makes sustainable
Hawthorne work. It's great work and it's uh well done to all of you. So, congrats. And a shout out to Cho who's watching from home whose mom's ailing. Keep her in your thoughts. Um few things to report on. First of all, I'm going to
play the role of Eric for the moment. R26 and R27 perhaps bear some explanation. I don't know Vinnie, you were covering these, but these were ERIC wrap-up projects. Uh R26 and 27 are change orders that wrap up two
longstanding uh projects. The one is for uh down tree service. As you know, when we installed the roller uh rink dasher boards at the high school, we were under a very strict timeline to get that done. it was unsafe
to do that work while school was in session or while games were being played. So we agreed to meet a deadline. Unfortunately, there were delays. Delays in shipping, delays in receipt of the materials and also there was an unknown
condition which is when the boards were pulled up underneath nothing was usable. Where we thought there might have been usable curve it was not. So the change order that you have from downs tree services for two parts. One would be the uh
underllayment, the curbing that needed to be installed, which was not foreseeable until the material was pulled up. And the second would be for the manh hours needed on an overtime basis to get this done. Uh Eric went
through the numbers before he departed. He's well, by the way, I had dinner with him last night. He sends regards. He doesn't miss anybody but he now he misses you. He doesn't miss working. Um but anyway I think this you know all
things being equal we went through this very carefully and think all of it was documented and downs as always does great work for us. The second one is Boswell engineering. When we did both the Mary Street and the Gothal Hill water tanks, we did discover
contamination in the soils, which we did not again expect to encounter, which required over 520 separate samplings with 25 separate lab reports in addition to those that we anticipated. So, uh, in
order to get an LSRP certifying that it was clean, there was an a great deal of additional work, uh, we met with Mr. Rossy from the Boswell organization, uh, in December and we went through a lot of long stories because if you know
Rossy, there's long stories, but once you get through the stories, there's a very logical explanation for all this extra work. So, I do recommend very much to you R26 and R27. Um, on the affordable housing front, uh,
mixed bag of news. The good news for us is we settled our affordable housing litigation with fair share housing and Dugan Development. The not so good news is that the Montil case was dismissed yesterday. Now, on a federal level, it
was already dismissed at the state court level. it was now dismissed on the federal level. And while I do know that the attorneys are speaking of appealing that decision, um I will tell you that it's going to be quite an uphill battle
to overturn the ruling that the judge made in that case. So it does appear the Montil case is not going to succeed. Um, so we are really stuck at this point with the affordable housing regulations that are now in place. As such, we were
smart to settle our case. Even though it wasn't everything we hoped it would be, settlement leaves everybody a little unhappy. So, uh, we will keep, uh, bringing to you parts of the agreement. We have until March 15th to adopt all the implementing
ordinances. So, we have quite a bit of work to do between now and then. You will be getting a new housing element and fair share plan and then a couple of additional ordinances that we will need to put in place including the reszoning
of the property down at the former pan chemical site. All that will be coming to you in the next few weeks. So, you know, be prepared to keep working. Um, finally on the legal front, for those who weren't aware of this, I spent uh
two days in the state county superior court trying the Burough of Hawthorne versus Phil Spoiled. It was a civil suit. We have had lots of criminal actions with regard to his violations of
property maintenance. This is the first time we ever sued civily. And what we did was bring what's called an abatement action where we determined that there is a nuisance, a public nuisance at his property. The recourse when you
determine there's a public a public nuisance is abatement. And where the person will not abate the condition on his own, the town could have the right to go on and do it for him at his expense. The law does support this. Um,
it's something that I still have to brief for the judge. Uh, to his credit, the judge drove to the property last week. He saw it the day after trial. So, as much as Phil scrambled to try to clean it, he saw it in its condition as
it existed. Um, I do believe a picture does say a thousand words in this case, and I'm very hopeful that uh we'll get a positive result here. I want to thank Walder Marston who uh cataloged everything with his pictures. Uh
Sergeant Dalo testified because he was there during one of the cleanups and our assessor Tim Henderson uh came to court to testify as well as to the fact that when somebody keeps their property in this condition, it does affect neighbors, it affects neighborhoods and
it affects values. So, uh Tim did testify as well. Um, so we are hopeful. We won't get a result until probably um I'm going to say March because it does take a while for judges to write the opinions. But, you know, this was 20
years in the making. So, another 45 days uh hopefully won't kill us. But that's the anticipation. Uh my last bit of news is with warm weather not really on the horizon. I want to still give you sunny
thoughts. Bandshell season will be coming up. Uh the band shell committee will be meeting in about uh 10 days. We're going to have our kickoff meeting. We're going to start lining up our performers for the coming season. We'll
start getting our solicitations together and uh look forward to year 11 at the Burough Band Shell. So that mayor concludes my report. >> Thank you, Michael. And now we'll turn it over to our engineer, Joe Burn.
>> Thank you, Mayor. Uh, quickly want to start off by saying congratulations to Councilwoman Leosa and the Sustainable Hawthorne team. Uh, you guys do great work and congratulations to the burrow as a whole, not only on the award, but having such a fantastic team uh, working
to your benefit. uh to start us off the 2425 road program which includes uh streets like uh 4th Avenue, Ethel, Annette, Highest Drive, McKinley, Garfield, Greenwood. Uh the guide rail for North 13th will be
delivered to the subcontractor this week and Marquest for the same will be done either next week or the following week uh due to the weather. um the 2425 local aid project uh which includes uh Hawthorne Avenue, West,
North Wong, and Grand View. Smith Sundi will be performing test pits near the proposed location of the guide rail along North Wong Avenue this Thursday. Um it was delayed to Thursday due to the freezing temperatures. Um uh the purpose behind this is to confirm
the location of a gas line nearby just to confirm that it won't be interfered with uh the Lafayette Streetscape phase 3 project. Um PSENG um we were waiting on them to connect uh
the wiring crew to connect uh the adjacent poles. Uh the electrical contractor informed us that PSENG would be powering on the lights uh yesterday. Um I could not check before the meeting as wasn't dark enough the lights to be
on just yet, but um after the meeting I'll confirm. Uh the ponding on the stand concrete at 431 Lafayette will be addressed uh by repouring the affected slabs once the weather breaks and four nonfreezing days
are preferred for the curing se uh ceiling. So that's uh the gap in the weather that we'll be looking for. Uh the lead service line removal phase 4 project. Uh the project is set to be awarded to Pacific Construction uh at
tonight's meeting. Um, Boswell has begun the inhome service line material verifications to expedite the work along Westerv Avenue which is scheduled to be paved in the spring of 2026. Uh, Peach Tree water tank
rehabilitation. Uh, the contractor is currently sending us submitts and shop drawings which we are reviewing. At this time, uh, work is expected to be completed prior to Memorial Day. Uh, Wagar Field One bleachers. Uh the contractor is currently sending in their submittals
and shop drawings and at this time work is expected to start this February and the on call services for the EX resin replacement. Uh the bid opening for this project uh took place earlier today. Um we're currently reviewing
those bid submissions and that concludes my report. Mayor, >> thank you, Joe. And now I'll turn it over to our administrator, Vincent. Thank you, mayor. Uh, I met with Boswell this morning to review uh potential CDBG
grants and other opportunities for 2026. Um, we have a couple projects that we're looking to uh to do. So, uh, our engineers will start getting estimates for that. Um, like Joe just said, we had our bid openings today. uh the one for
the resin replacement and also we had our collection of uh solid waste, recyclables, yard waste and leaves. Um Michael's still going through the uh through the bids. Um so we'll uh have an update on that probably at the next
meeting. Work on the budget continues. Um plan to have a finance committee meeting uh this week on Monday. Hopefully I have another meeting with uh CFO Lori uh later on this week to try and uh cut everything
down and have it nice and tight for you guys when we get to the committee. Uh I've been having ongoing meetings with the department heads to discuss various procedures and operations uh which we'll start moving forward on. I also uh had a meeting with uh Millennium
which is a contractor for S County regarding the LEAP implementation grant which is uh the county providing highspeed fiber uh to uh our building. Um and preliminarily the cost will save
us about $1,300 a month um if we get this in. So uh we'll have another meeting with P County. This was with the contractor. So, we hope to have that uh in the pipeline very shortly. Uh the burrow submitted reimbursement forms for
the uh to the county for the 2023 and 2024 open space projects. We're awaiting our final inspections by inspections by the open space coordinator, which should be done this month uh or as early as
February. And last but not least, uh DPW has been in talks as well as I have with uh Washington Township, Bergen County for another town to buy brine from uh Horththornne. Um it seems we have really
good brine and municipalities are are looking to buy it from us. So um that uh we're going to be working on a similar contract that we established with Loi for that. And that's all I have. Max, >> thank you, Vince. Mr. President will answer any questions that the council
may have. >> Any questions for the administration? >> Uh, yeah, I have a question. Michael Pasqual. Um, I know you kind of uh gave us a little heads up prior to us even going into the suit of affordable
housing. Um, so it's nothing that we're surprised with with what's happened, but I'm curious of the reasoning why the judges have dismissed both of these cases on a state and federal level. If you can give us if you have any background, if you can give it to us, I appreciate it.
>> Yeah, I can. It's it's uh I'll do the best I can to thumbnail it because it's complicated, but in both cases it's based on standing and and the argument is by excluding
the qualified urban aid communities from the obligation to build affordable housing, there's an equal protection issue that our rights for equal protection under the law are being
violated. ated. They don't have the obligation. We do. That's an equal protection issue. The standing issue is that technically a municipality cannot sue for a violation of equal protection
rights. Municipalities only exist because the state says they exist. And so whatever rights a municipality has are derived from state statute. So a municipality in essence cannot sue its
own creator for a violation of the rights that it grants in the first place. And that's the best I can do to try to explain the fairly complicated legal issue which is we don't have standing as municipalities
to sue our makers. >> So would an individual need to do that? >> Funny you say that. you represent obviously are individuals people and I I don't agree with you. I understand what you're saying, but it's a bunch of baloney. >> Well, what ended up happening was the
attorneys uh and I was involved in a number of these meetings. We all recognize at some point, guys, you're up against the real issue here. So, they decided, I don't know why they didn't think of this sooner, but they decided, we better name
individuals. So they went to each of the individual municipalities and said, "Give us a name." Mayor Lane joined in the suit. Mayor um Damiano and Little Falls, different people that we all know, suddenly became named plaintiffs.
The court still said the proof that there's a violation of equal under the equal protection uh constitutional provision is too speculative because you needed to answer for ifs. They would say if this, if this, if
this, if this, then there's a loss, damage harm of some sort. And the court wasn't willing to say, "Yeah, those four ifs are imminent." They're not. In other words, the the thinking is participation, and
this was the one that really gets you. They say participation in the program with affordable housing is voluntary. Of course, we say, "Okay, but the consequence for not participating
is builder's remedy lawsuits and serious wild west issues that you're going to get. It's not voluntary. It's totally coercive." And the courts have both said, the state and the federal, you know, it says right here, voluntary. You
don't have to participate even though the consequences are dire. So your answer, your question uh council president is the right one which is what about individuals and the answer is no didn't work either on much shakier
grounds. I think the judge is 100% correct on the fact of municipalities. The law absolutely is clear on that. I don't necessarily agree with any judge who says this is not this is voluntary.
It's not. It's coercive. do as we say, not as you want. The fact is the the you're fighting against forces that are pro housing. And if you oppose it, of course, you get shouted down as a bunch
of racists, a bunch of, you know, elitists. You don't want poor people in your community and the like. And and our answer is that's that's never been the case. We're very diverse and and economically, socially, uh, ethnically,
we've grown in diversity over the years. Um, we don't want overdevelopment. That's really not such a big thing to understand, but yet nobody wants to understand that. >> Anything else, Councilman? >> I hope I answered succinctly enough, but
uh, you don't like your answer. >> I don't like your answer, though. Can we change? >> Yeah, that's it. Yeah. It's just unfortunate because they changed the law and they put that language in the law. So now it's law and
that's it's the bottom line is they took that court decision and made it into law. >> Thank you for reading my memo. Yeah. The AMG case decided by Judge Serpentelli in 1984 and Judge Serpentelli is was always regarded as the leading authority on
affordable housing among the judiciary but he said oh no we can't do this in qualified urban aid municipalities but the argument that we've made is that was then this is now what was you know affordable building affordable housing
in Hope in 1984 before may have been an issue. Finding affordable housing in Hobok in in 2025 is an impossibility. So, um you know, things have changed dramatically, but the law hasn't kept up
with it and the underpinnings of that decision have eroded, >> right? But >> who's in power? They put that in law to protect the the urban towns. >> So, it's law now. The only way you go
back is >> I know >> you're going to have to go back to uh the Senate and the Assembly, which that's not going to happen. >> It's not. >> So, they have the courts now on their side and they have the law on their side. It's very disappointing and disheartening because we as a
municipality has always done the right thing. We talked about this at Nauseium in December and how we have always been the one doing the right thing. >> Yeah. And one last thing, and I I know I've taken a lot of time, council president, but you know, you stood up
here and made a presentation about sustainability, protection of the environment, and all of these good things, which frankly the same people who are the affordable housing advocates are the same people who typically are
going to be promoting sustainability, open green space, protection of the environment. The environment doesn't matter to affordable housing zealots. It just doesn't matter. Uh we can denude
our mountain side. Um as long as we're building housing, that's okay. Wait until they say to develop the 8 acre woods as a undeveloped property. >> Yeah. >> Bruce, I can't stop that.
>> Yeah. busting at the seams. Obviously, by very definition, what's the difference between an urban town, city, and a suburban population, density? So, they're enforcing the
parameters of an urban community versus to to suburban towns that just don't have that. Uh, it's so frustrating. So, you know, by design, are they trying to make all of us all of the what is
there uh 600 360 or 600 municipalities in the state of New Jersey? There's over there's about 570 >> 67 >> 570 580 >> how how many >> 570 municipalities that are all being
forced to have roles of an urban town which is much more populely populated. We don't all of us are in the same boat. It's so darn frustrating. I know you're doing everything. I just am exploding with frustration. Um, well, with that being said, we should then get
the funding that the urban communities get to assist us when we need to expand our schools or upgrade our infrastructure. I know that's not going to happen. None of the other municipalities will. That is the other side of the pancake that sadly never
gets looked at on most of the uh things that come out of a an order that doesn't think the whole thing through. Thank you so much, Mike. I know you work hard for us. You educate us. You answer all my questions, and I appreciate it.
Um, I did have a question for you, Joe. Um, so the stamp concrete, um, sidewalking that we have put into place looks very shiny, and I've had some businesses and residents ask me, "It
looks slippery. I have it in front of my office." I haven't fallen, thank you, goodness. Um, can you just offer some assurance to the residents out there that by nature it does look shiny just like it did when we first started I think at the uh library
even though it's a different color. It does look shiny when it does look shiny when wet but is it slippery when wet? That is the question I posed to you. >> I I I can say having walked in it in the rain and after the rain, it is not
slippery when wet. It's just uh the way it reflects light. It It's not a It's not a product of it being as smooth as glass and you know like ice. It it is still a paved concrete surface and there
should not be any danger of >> there is there is some you know definition some volume to it or whatever adjective I can find. But it it does look shiny. But I thank you for annunciating the fact that it is not slippery. Um, all of us that have, you
know, properties on Lafayette, we do salt it. That's not going to destroy it in any way. Correct. >> We throw the regular salt like we do anywhere else as like we do in our parking lots. >> So long so long as you salt any concrete, you know, to a reasonable
extent, you know, you aren't dumping a pile of it on in every single storm, the concrete should last for a long time. >> Very good. I'm just trying to be educational. Um, I had another question just posing because time is going to
close quickly, right? February is upon us. The municipal pool bathroom upgrades. We want to make sure that that's done before Memorial Day. Correct, Mayor. >> That's correct. >> So, can we talk about that soon? What's the wheels will be turning?
>> We're in the process. We have to talk with Michael about a couple of things and then uh you know, hopefully we'll be able to go. >> Great. Thank you. Dominic. >> No. >> Okay. Anything else? Mayor, >> that concludes the report from administration.
>> Can I have a motion record the administrative agenda? So move. >> Motion by Sasso, second by Scara. All in favor? >> I. Motion carries. Introduction of ordinances. We have ordinance number 2379-26, an ordinance fixing the 2026 salaries,
wages, and compensation of the employees of the Burma Parkorn County of Pake State of New Jersey. Be resolved. This ordinance is now passed first reading as said ordinance be further considered for final passage at a meeting of the governing body in the municipal building at 445 Lafayette Avenue, Horththornne,
New Jersey on February 18th, 2026 at 7 p.m. at which time and place all interested people uh who desire to be given an opportunity to be heard in connection with the said ordinance. And during the week prior to and up including the date of such meeting, copies of said ordinance will be made
available on the bar website and the clerk's office of municipal building and to the members of the general public who shall request the same. You have a motion. >> So move. >> Motion by me, second by Leosa. Any discussion?
>> Roll call. >> Bennett. >> Yes. >> Leosa. >> Yes. Millie. >> Yes. >> Sasso. Yes. Skiara. >> Yes. >> Matthews. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> Ordinance number 2380-26. An ordinance to further amend and
supplement chapter 505 vehicles and traffic article 2 traffic regulations section 505-16. Trucks over certain weights excluded so as to set forth minimum fines for certain roadways there. Be resolved. This ordinance is now passed first reading at said ordinance be considered for final
passage at a governing body in the municipal building 445 Lafayette Avenue New Jersey on February 18th at 7:00 p.m. at which time and place anyone interested uh and any members of the public who desire to be given an opportunity to be heard in connection with the said ordinance and during the
week prior to and up to including the date of such meeting. Copies of said ordinance will be made available to the burough website and at the clerk's office in said municipal building to the members of the general public who shall request the same. Have a motion. >> Second.
>> Uh motion by scar, second by Bennett. And for those following along, this is just a piece of our public safety enhancement plan for the overweight vehicles coming down steep slopes. Since we can't quite get a total plan all at
once, we're increasing the fines for all the downhill roads on the west side of GoPro from $100 to $1,000 as a first and a minimum court appearance required. >> Frank, is this any street or is all just
street? That's Michael. any street that has the weight limit on it. And it's we just decided everything on the west side of Goth Road, every one of those streets, wherever you >> doing it in the name of safety, Don, that's why we we picked the west to golf
road cuz those have the slope, right? >> There are obviously other weight restricted streets, say on flat roads, >> but the point isn't to um >> just make more money. It's to make them not doable, >> right? Um, so that's where it came from.
Okay. And obviously we're going to be also still looking at additional stop signs, different signage. Um, we need to hear back from traffic engineer as well as u b to see if uh what we want to do can be
done. >> Thank you. Roll call. >> Excuse me. Skiara, >> yes. >> Sasso, >> yes. >> Millie, >> yes. >> Leosa, >> yes. >> Bennett, >> yes. Matthews. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> Resolutions. We have the off consent
R23-26 budget transfers. Have a motion. >> So move. >> Motion by Mey. >> Second. >> Second by Leosa. Any discussion? >> Roll call. >> Bennett. >> Yes. >> Leosa. >> Yes. Mey. >> Yes. >> Sasso. >> Yes.
>> Skiara. >> Yes. >> Matthews. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> Cassette agenda M1-26. R24-26 through R29-26. MRO1-26 is installation of a handicap parking space. R24-26 is redemption of a
lean certificate number 23-0000009. R25-26 is award of contract to the waterline water service line replacement phase 4 to Pacific Construction. R26-26 are change orders one and two for the roller hockey rink improvements to Downs
uh service. R27-26 is change order 1 for Gothal Hill and Mary Street water tanks the Boswell LSRP services. R28-26 is emergency contract for pump repairs at Cedar Awell Subservice Technologies
and R29-26 is authorized a settlement of a tax appeal for Glenn Rock Savings at block 118- lot uh lot 3. Have a motion. >> So moved. >> Motion by Bennett. >> Sasso second. >> Second by Sasso. Any discussion?
>> Roll call. >> The Kiara. >> Yes. >> Sasso. Yes. Millie. >> Leosa. Yes. >> Bennett. >> Yes. >> Matthews. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> Reports of special counsel committees. Mike will start your way. >> Nothing tonight. >> Nothing tonight. >> Reena. >> Nothing tonight.
>> Bruce. >> No, sir. >> Anna Marie, >> just to remind our residents, anybody, that the Hawthorne Ambulance Corps is always looking for volunteers. It's the ideal uh position to donate and give back to your community. anybody who's a
high school student age 16 and older or someone who's fortunate enough to be retired. The final number for their hours to the town for 2025 was 21,165 volunteer hours to us. So if we do the numbers, $25 an hour, it's over a half a
million that we did not have to pay them. Our fire department does the same thing. Um I just encourage everybody to consider volunteering. It's not a full-time thing. It's something that you do. They train and the training is bar none. Um,
that's all I have to report tonight. >> Dominic, >> I'd just like to acknowledge Raina for all the hard work she does with this committee. And people think we're just here two meetings a month. We work behind the scenes a lot. And this is one of the things I have to say to Arena
does a lot a good job. That's all I have to say. Thank you, Arena. >> I don't think it was long. Thank you, Tom. Uh for myself, the planning board met last night in the Dunkin Donuts on Gothal Road is planning on adding a
drive-thru. Uh in addition to the drive-thru, they're going to be basically redoing the entire store inside and out as well as the parking lot will be re uh adjusted for different traffic patterns. Um it was a little
>> Yeah, they'll be probably down for about uh 6 weeks. um doing the parking and the whole inside and outside of the building is they could probably do the inside about three or four weeks, but the couple weeks for the outside stuff that the
county uh or the state wants them to place the curb on the offramp of 208 cuz they felt it was too low and somebody could try and make a right-hand turn off of the offramp into the parking lot. never happened before,
>> but they're making the applicant put in all new curbing along the highway. >> And I said, since we're talking about it, I said, "Where's the no left turn that we should have there?" And the traffic engineer tried to tell me we don't need one. I said, "Well, there
used to be a sign there." And and finally after about a half an hour and they saw the meeting was going south, they took a break and the manager said, "Oh, yeah, there was a sign there." They just uh it got hit and nobody ever replaced it. So there'll be a no left turn there now.
You couldn't make that up. And I even told him there was a no left turn there 40 years ago when it was a Dairy Queen. >> Yeah. >> Uh yes. Uh Zach moves on from the chamber, but the uh the chamber now uh
wants to remind everybody the company year dinner is January 30th at Macalus. They're honoring Angelina's as well as Salon TG. And anyone interested in going to the chamber dinner, please contact Meg by this Friday the 23rd to get your
tickets so they can work on a seating arrangement. That's all I have to report. Correspondence. We have C1 new firefighter applicant Carlos Morales Baraga to company 4. Have a motion moved. >> Motion by Bennett. >> Second.
>> Second by Leosa. Any discussion? Roll call. >> Bennett. >> Yes. >> Leosa. >> Yes. >> Millie. >> Yes. >> Sasso. >> Yes. >> Skiara. >> Yes. >> Matthews. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. >> Have a motion to approve the bills and forward them to the treasurer for
payment. So move. Motion by second by Leosa. Any discussion? Skiara, >> yes. >> Sasso, yes. Millie, >> yes. >> Leosa, yes. Bennett, >> yes. >> Matthews, >> yes. >> Motion carries. >> Public comment. Now, open the meeting to
the public. Anyone desires to be heard, please raise your hand. Come forward to the microphone. State your name. back. Laura um Michael still we heard tonight that there are 577 municipalities in the state of New Jersey. I want to add my
voice to the congratulations to Councilwoman Leosa, to the council, to the mayor, and to the whole town of Hawthorne. Within those 577 municipalities, only 83 have been awarded any kind of recognition for sustainable communities. Only two of
them have been recognized as gold. So, we are among the 31 silver, there 52 bronze. The thing that I think really needs to be emphasized is that Hawthorne is the only community in all of Paya County that's been recognized as aa
sustainable community. You're doing really good work. Congratulations. >> Thank you. Anyone else wish to be heard? Seeing no one, I entertain a motion to close public portion. >> So moved. >> Motion by Scara. Second. >> Second by Bennett. All in favor?
>> I. Our next council meeting is Wednesday, February 4th, 2026 at 7 p.m. Have a motion to adjurnn. So move motion by Skier, second by Bennett. All in favor? I. >> Motion carries. We're